So Dennis Kucinich decided to change his mind and vote for the current HCR bill. He rode on Air Force One, had a talk with Obama and Pelosi and decided to switch. Ever since he’s been getting flack for it.
I don’t really think he deserves it. Bloggers have been bashing him, calling him a Washington Insider, etc. I know why he did it, and it could be the right thing to do. I totally agree with him, the bill is a tremendous give away to the insurance companies, but at least it’s something. If I were Kucinich, I’d probably do the same thing. You also have a lot of progressives that support the bill like Alan Grayson.
It’s by far not the right bill, but Kucinich has hope that it’ll be a start. He has hope that there will be other bills introduced that will make it better. Congress just doesn’t have the vote thanks to centrist and bought out Dems for it to be better right now.
I’d follow Kucinich anywhere. I have complete faith in him. I really wish he’d become more popular and have a shot at POTUS. I think he does the right thing, every time. He’s one of the few representatives that I actually trust.
I really hope he doesn’t have a good Democratic challenger in the primary. We need him and we need more people like him in Congress.
- This one probably deserves a post in and of itself. Bri and I are looking to expand our family. We want to adopt another dog but we’re running into a lot of difficulties. We can’t adopt a puppy from a shelter because one of us needs to be stay at home. You’d think with the economy being bad and a lot of unwanted animals, they’d be lenient.
- Bill Maher blogged if Democrats really wanted to pass health care, they should be against it. Makes sense and I agree. Republicans are the party of no and the opposite of everything the Democrats are for.
- I’m almost done three of my 2010 Resolutions.
- Re Big Love: If Bill would embrace the Progressive idea of Universal Health Care, he wouldn’t have to worry about his wives/children being dropped from his family coverage. But he’s running as a Republican (and Right Wing Christian) and we know their views.
- I think the iPad is a joke and will fail regardless of Apple’s following. It doesn’t do anything new.
- I REALLY hope the economy rebounds soon. I’m tired of it day after day and it’s really hurting me, even though I have a job, believe it or not.
- I have a few money making ideas. I’m waiting for a few things in order to get started.
- I’m REALLY scared for our country if we can’t get the recent Supreme Court decision undone. Alan Grayson is leading the charge in introducing two new bills to try to stop it, and an online petition. This issue should be bipartisan and Obama was correct in bashing the Justices in his State Of The Union.
- Also, it’s a relief that Scott Roeder was convicted. It had me REALLY scared that in our country we might be crazy enough to let off a murderer.
- Barack Obama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize today after announcing the escalation of the war in Afghanistan… At least he’s donating the $1.4 million to charity.
- Dennis Kucinich is trying to pull through a House Resolution to withdraw our troops from Pakistan and Afghanistan. I already wrote to my Congresswoman, Donna Edwards, asking her to support it.
- Kucinich also made a great speech on the House floor how these wars are costing jobs stating “War is a weapon of mass destruction“.
- On Hardball last night Alan Grayson would tell Dick Cheney to STFU. That was priceless.
- Uganda is trying to push through an anti gay bill banning homosexuality. If suspected of homosexuality, people can face jail time and even death. Why isn’t this getting more traction on the news networks? The only person who seems to want to talk about it is Rachel Maddow. And our Republican leaders refuse to denounce it. Makes me sick.
- I concluded that I’m no longer going to buy anything else that promises flight. I recently bought these UFO things off of Woot. They’re hard to control and need AA batteries to charge. This thing marks the third time I bought something that says it can fly. Maybe I’ll try it again when they come out with something that can plug into a WALL and not use AA batteries to charge.
- As some know, I’ve changed my view on illegal immigration. I’m now more liberal. I still don’t think the people should come here illegally but we need to do something for the people who are here and DO pay taxes. I think we should harshly punish businesses for employing them, that may drive some of them away when they can’t find work.
- I’m also for illegals having health insurance. Of course, after all our citizens have health care. Universal single payer health care has always been my view. Once we have that, anyone in this country should be entitled to it. I just don’t know how to debate it other than saying it’s the right thing to do and it should be considered a human right. I realize there are A LOT of problems with this stance. I don’t know what to say other than that’s how my heart feels.
- Our company holiday party is this weekend. We didn’t have one last year. Should be a good time.
- I don’t think the Ravens are going to make it to the playoffs this year. Sucks.
If you haven’t heard, Obama is planning to implement a “surge” in Afghanistan. He’s going to announce his plan to send more than 30,000 additional troops (and who knows how many government contractors) to the war next Tuesday.
My prediction for Obama’s speech is another “Bush” like speech:
- The war is necessary
- We need to change the strategy in Afghanistan (meaning things remain the same)
- Our security as a nation relies on it
- This war is not open ended
- This war is the “good war”
- We want to hand responsibility to the Afghans ASAP
- Benchmarks (that probably won’t matter nor will they be met)
- How we plan to work with other nations to ensure a stable Afghanistan
- We need to “finish the job”
- The next few months (or years) will “demand more patience, sacrifice, and resolve”
The speech will also NOT contain the following:
- An exit strategy
- A time line
- How much more this war will cost
- The goal
- How much strain this war is putting on our already strained military
- In what way this war is tied to our national security
This war is a drain. Obama is sending every other brigade left to Afghanistan leaving us with very few units. We need to cut our losses, end both wars, and send our troops home where they belong.
It never ceases to amaze me how the Congress and the president can be so willing to escalate a war with all the problems we’re facing here. We’re told we have to accept cutbacks on health care and our infrastructure in order to help balance the budget, yet every time there’s a war bill, Congress rubber stamps it. I don’t understand how we have to compromise on health care yet the wars have no compromise. They can be funded open endedly.
I wrote to my congressmen, Ben Cardin, asking him to help push HR 676 (Universal Single Payer Health Care for the US). He wrote back to me:
As a member of the Senate Budget Committee, I firmly believe that any reform proposals we enact must be fully paid for, and the budget resolution passed by Congress requires that.
What about the wars, Senator?
Since I’ve been staying very current on the health care reform debate, I thought I’d post some of the best articles I’ve found in my months of research on this subject. These articles prove to be much ammunition for those who are against HCR or those right wingers who think our system is better than single payer or socialized medicine country.
Oregon Live – Five Myths About Health Care Around The World – Probably one of the best articles I’ve ever read. It debunks the five biggest myths about single payer and socialized medicine.
Blast The Right – Transcript 152 – Debunking Conservative lies about the health care debate.
Blast The Right – Transcript 154 – Debunking more lies from the right about HCR.
Blast The Right – Transcript 155 – Part III of debunking the right on HCR.
ABC News – How Health Insurance Companies Hurt Policyholders – The real death panels of the health insurance industry, as told by an insider.
Newsweek – What’s Not To Like About Our Health Care System – A view of our current health care system.
Huffington Post – GOPers Decrying Socialized Medicine – Some Congressmen from the GOP have actually used government run hospitals for their surgery, yet they are against it.
US Health Crisis – What Real Canadians Think Of Their Health Care – A video of actual Canadians and what they think of their health care system.
IPPF – How Our Health System Screws Over Women – A look at what women are put through thanks to our messed up health system. Sheds some light on our shamefully high infant mortality rate.
Families USA – Dying For Coverage In Maryland – A PDF of the suffering Marylanders go through without insurance. Some good facts on why insurance matters.
Maybe reading these will convince some that a single payer system is the way to go… The very least being a public option.
Of late I’ve been pretty depressed about the state of the US. I think I figured out why.
During the Bush years, I knew there was no hope in solving our big problems like global warming, health care, the national debt, the wars, etc. Bush did so much to hurt the United States. I genuinely believe him to be a “T” word (not “tyrant”, by the way).
When we overwhelmingly called for change and progress via electing Obama, I cried. I was so happy. I had so much hope for our country. It was finally going to turn around, I thought. The Democrats had won power back and now had an overwhelming majority. Nothing could stop the progressive movement… I thought.
Here we are entering October. Obama’s been in power eight months. Nothing major has changed.
My friend said go easy on Obama, give him some slack, he has a lot up against him. I can’t on major issues that need to be solved ASAP and bad Bush policies that he promised not to resume. He wants to be bipartisan when sometimes it’s not worth it.
Health Care. When a majority of the country wants a public option, Obama wants to try and be bipartisan on an issue all Republicans have stated they would not vote for. The Republicans have basically come out and said they’re not voting for anything health care related. Obama started with a compromise and look what we have now. A bill that probably won’t have apublic option. If he proposed universal single payer health care from the start, the compromise would have to be the public option. Obama needs to stop pandering to the Republicans. Get universal single payer health care enforced… or be a wimp and just have a public option. Honestly, I think they should resort to an old Bush tactic and call the bill something like the “Health Care Patriot Bill”. Just throw in that word “patriot”. Then if the Republicans don’t vote for it, Democrats can bring that up the next election and call them “unpatriotic”. The Republicans did the same things the last eight years.
Global Warming. Obama’s Clean Energy And Security Act Of 2009 is weak at best. It doesn’t stop the problem, rather it gives us reason to prolong the problem and tackle it another day. Scientists say we needed to stop pollution and reduce our greenhouse emissions yesterday. Read what Dennis Kucinich had to say about the bill. Obama should put harsh restrictions in place for polluters and give tax cuts to companies who go green. Start enforcement of restrictions sooner, not in 2016, now, cause we need it now. Be honest with the American people and tell them to sacrifice and do common sense things like recycle, buy fuel efficient cars, and eat less meat.
The Economy. Corporations and their strength and greed ruined our country and we let them get away with it. The richest 1% of Americans more than doubled their share from 8.5% to 22% from the early 80’s to 2006. CEO’s earn over 500 times what the average worker earns, versus 40 times more like in the past. Obama, I thought, was going to be a true leader and put corporations in their place and impose restrictions and not let them walk all over the American people and their government. Obama hasn’t done this. I want Obama to be a strong president, like (I hate to say it) Bush. Bush, for all the bad shit that he did, he was actually able to get what he wanted done… almost every time. Obama needs to impose and enforce restrictions on companies with strong penalties. We’re a year after the financial meltdown and not one restriction has been put on Wall Street. There is nothing stopping what happened last year from happening again. Business’s will continue to make risky ventures full well knowing if they fail, the government and us tax payers will back them up. We need Obama to stand up and send a clear message to Wall Street that we will not have their back anymore. Another idea would be to force a split of these big institutions that are too big to fail.
Torture. I voted to condemn the act of torture and to finally get justice and accountability in the United States. We signed the Geneva Conventions for a reason, to condemn torture. It was my hope that Obama would come through on this and investigate past acts of illegal activity by the previous administration. However, Obama has chosen not to look into past (proven) acts of torture and illegal activities. You prevent future torture by prosecuting past acts of torture. Obama needs to do this and hold everyone accountable as well as follow through on his closing of Guantanamo Bay.
Afghan & Iraq Wars. Obama needs to follow through on his promise to get us out of Iraq… that goes without saying. Bush put us in the middle of two big, useless wars. We don’t need to be over there, just like we don’t need to be in Germany and Japan anymore. Iraq and Afghanistan are two examples of the Military Industrial Complex at work in this country. Blackwater, Halliburton, Lockheed Martin, etc have made billions off of these wars. And they continue to be awarded no-bid contracts by our government. There once was a time in our history where being called a war profiteer was considered a bad thing. These contractors have literally gotten away with fraud, arms dealing, and murder. It started under Bush and, unfortunately, continues under Obama. Obama needs to get out of Iraq and Afghanistan as peacefully as possible. Since we shifted our focus to Afghanistan now, it has become more and more violent. Both countries don’t want us there and as long as we’re there, we’re wasting billions of dollars and lives. Also, Obama should bring charges against Blackwater, KBR, DynCorp, ArmorGroup for fraud, child prostitution, murder, etc.
Gay Marriage. I applaud states for finally standing up and admitting that it is unconstitutional to not allow same sex couples to wed. I really don’t think Obama has done much at all to advance the GLBT community. He hasn’t repealed Don’t Ask Don’t Tell like he promised. Obama should make a public statement about this and encourage more states to allow same sex marriage and repeal the Defense Of Marriage Act. Also, repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell so gays can openly serve in our military.
Iran. I am glad Obama is exercising diplomacy. However putting sanctions on a country that hasn’t launched an aggressive war in modern history is a little ridiculous. I have always said who are we to not allow another country to develop nuclear weapons? We have them, and we’ve waged a lot of wars, two very recently. Why do we feel the need to defend Israel anyway? They have nukes and can take care of themselves. Obama needs to leave Iran alone. Please, for Gods sake, don’t invade. Don’t start another costly war.
Leading The Country. Obama has not shown us that he is a strong leader. Not one president since JFK has asked us to do anything! I want Obama to step up and tell me to make sacrifices. Obama needs to tell us to eat healthier, cut out fast food, drive more fuel efficient cars, recycle, stop relying on credit cards, etc.
Granted, I’m also mad at Obama for a lot of other issues like the national debt. If I were to give Obama a grade, it would be a D. So far I think he and his Democratic Congress have failed to do what we gave them power to do. They actually listen to Republican nonsense and not rebut it. So lies (like the illegal immigration coverage and abortion field trips in the HCR bill) will fester and become widely known as fact.
Frankly, I don’t see how his administration is in any way a Democratic one. Obama and his Congress need to get their act together and fix the country. We elected them and gave them all the tools they need to do what we want. If they can’t do it by next year, I predict the Republicans will gain back a lot of power fairly easily.
Bill Maher was on the Jay Leno Show last night and said a pretty funny thing. It’s too long for Twitter or else I’d tweet it.
“If you’ve voted for a guy who wouldn’t give you health care, as opposed to one who would, you should have your head examined… Except you can’t afford to have your head examined because you don’t have health care.”
Just thought I’d share it.
As some of you may have watched, Rush Limbaugh was on the Jay Leno show last night, talking nothing but trash. Leno got in there a few times to correct Rush on a few of his “misunderstandings”. Most of what he said, of course, were lies. I debunked a few as he was saying them on my twitter.
The one lie I loved the best was him claiming that there are no successful government run programs. I desperately wanted to tweet but, come on, my list would be well over the 140 character limit Twitter has.
I decided just to blog about it quickly here and list a few successful government programs. Some of these everyone uses in their day to day lives, without even realizing it:
Federal Highway Administration
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Environmental Protection Agency
Tennessee Valley Authority
National Park Service
Medicaid
Medicare
National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA)
Social Security
Family & Medical Leave Act
National Weather Service
Consumer Product Safety Commission
Centers for Disease Control & Prevention
Government Grants
Food & Drug Administration
Americans with Disabilities Act
Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (GI bill)
Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act (another GI bill)
Peace Corps
European Recovery Program (Marshall Plan)
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS or cash for clunkers)
Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act
Public Broadcasting
Public Schools & Universities
Public Transportation (it has a lot of faults but a lot of people need it to get around)
Public Libraries
Fire Department
Workers’ Compensation (ex Sate Compensation Insurance Fund of California)
Rural Utilities Service
Federal Aviation Administration
Community Development Block Grant
Housing & Urban Development (HUD)
It turns out there are a lot of successful government run programs, making this list rather incomplete.
I was trying to remember the source… I believe it may have been Bill Maher or Chris Matthews… but I remember hearing how California and Texas both passed tort reform.
Some think that tort reform can solve this health care problem. Texas is a prime example that it can not.
Texas passed tort reform back in 2003 by capping payoffs from malpractice cases. One article said it increased doctors in the state. Yet today, Texas is the uninsured capital of the United States with 24.4% of Texans being uninsured.
What people think is tort reform encourages more doctors and lowers insurance costs. However, this data shows that tort reform does not work to lower costs. Insurance rates should have gone down, hence more people should afford to be insured.
If tort reform worked, Texas and California wouldn’t be that high on the list of uninsured states.
Side Note: Since this post will kind of be a health care debate post… sort of… and since I couldn’t digg the article yesterday since Digg was being stupid and not letting me submit it, I’ll link to an interesting article about how the health insurance companies hurt policyholders.
Now, I’ve heard a lot of arguments from the right (and some blue dogs on the left) these days of why a public option in health care would be a bad thing… like a healthy competition is a bad thing. It started me thinking of how public competes against private. Brian and I spent an hour coming up with a pretty good list of ways public competes with private:
- Public vs Private mail – For example USPS vs FedEx.
- Public vs Private schools – For example colleges can be public or private. Most private colleges (and schools) are more expensive. Wouldn’t private schools not be around at all if everyone put their kids in public since it’s cheaper? There are REALLY good public schools (example UMD)… yet there are still private schools out there… wonder why.
- Public vs Private airports – Here’s a list of public and private airports in Maryland. I don’t hear any private airports (or conservatives) wining how the public ones take all the business away. Private airports are still in business, oddly enough.
- Public vs Private space agencies – For example NASA vs Scaled Composites (which is a child of Northrup Grumman).
- Pubic vs Private hospitals – Thinking there probably shouldn’t be any private hospitals still around… oh wait, there are.
- Public vs Private radio – Ever heard of NPR? Nothing about the right crying “unfair” they’re competing with private radio stations.
- Pubic vs Private banks – This one really gets me. I don’t hear anything about people being mad at government run banks or credit unions. You’d think they’d offer higher interest rates on savings accounts (you know, since they don’t have to worry about profit). Which in turn, you guessed it, causes the private to go out of business. But none of that happens. Public and private are just as competitive. In fact, I bank with ING Direct and I get a much better interest rate than if I banked with NFCU.
- Public vs Private television – PBS versus almost anything else. How come PBS isn’t kicking butt on the ratings? Oh yeah, they suck. So people go to private… Hmm… apply that theory to healthcare… Case in point, if this public option sucks, people will flock back to private. Private just needs to be… what’s the word… oh yeah, COMPETITIVE.
Pretty sure this list is incomplete. Can you think of more?
Now, I don’t hear anyone on the right (or anyone for a “free market”) arguing against any of these. If public was so good, we wouldn’t be having this debate, would we? These major things would all be run by the government and there would be no private. And I’m guessing Obama’s socialism would be a much larger number than 0.21%.
And regarding the argument: “oh well when one of the companies doesn’t have to worry about a profit…” Honestly? If your life depended on a decision from someone NOT in it for the profit or someone IN it for the profit, I can’t imagine why anyone would put their life in the hands of someone who’s only looking out for their profit.
I’m fairly certain this article is right leaning:
Five Reasons “Cash For Clunkers” Is A Joke
By now I’m sure you’ve heard Obama has passed a bill, Cash For Clunkers. I visited Yahoo news today like I usually do since Yahoo is my home page and I read this interesting, BS article.
- Not sure if the author of this article has ever traded in a car but you can’t get much for it. Nine out of ten times you’re better off trying to sell it on your own. Dealerships usually rip people off. In the article it even states that you’ll get MORE for it with the CFC bill than you would normally… Not really seeing why the bill won’t work if people are getting MORE MONEY from their cars.
- Yeah average price of a new car might be $24,000 but honestly, if you’re hurting for money and need a car, I’d go with a Rabbit or a Yaris. Even now with Ford and GM not doing so well, I’d go for a Focus. Much cheaper than the $24K this guy is saying a new car is. A Yaris costs $12,200 MSRP, negotiate a little, could get it down to $11,500 easy… CFC makes the car a whopping $8,000. Say you had to borrow $9K, that’s only $174 a month at 6%.
- Some people might not need their big SUV anymore, or their truck, or their minivan. And some trucks DO get better fuel efficiency than before. And if your truck is old and on its last leg, now could be the perfect opportunity. Furthermore, the bill states different qualifications for trucks.
- This argument is weak at best… and pretty funny. Don’t scrap your car because it MIGHT be a future classic? Pretty pathetic. Yeah, I’m going to hang on to my 1994 Chrysler cause it might be worth much more one day. And how do classic cars get value anyway? Because there are only A FEW LEFT. I honestly don’t think people are going to keep their junkers in hopes that one day (could be 20 years or 50 years down the road) it could be worth something. You know how much it costs to store a car? The guy who wrote this article certainly doesn’t.
- That’s a problem with Ford and GM, not with the CFC program. If they were hoping this bill provided a boost to the automotive business here, they would have put in the bill that the car must be traded in at a Ford or GM dealership.
Re People’s Participation: I actually know a few people that can benefit from this program. One of them is going to participate and trade his 1993 Mercedes in for either a Toyota Prius or a Toyota Yaris.
I usually have some pretty good debates with my fathers lawyer who is a Republican. He always likes to blame Democrats for the problems we face in our state and in our country (like all good Republicans, right).
Anyway, so he recently said how one third of the rich people in this state have since moved or changed their permanent residences due to O’Malley hiking up their taxes. So, what the Right likes to think is that it drove out rich people and increased taxes on the working. They’re correct, but let’s take a look at the numbers:
The increase on the rich of they “grinned and bared it” would be another $106,000,000 revenue to the state.
In reality it put us in the hole -$100,000,000. (Figures from the Wall Street Journal.)
So that’s a -$206,000,000 swing that we have to make up to (baring that the tax increase on the rich would balance the budget) keep the budget balanced for the year. In other words, Maryland needs to make up $206,000,000 MORE than last year.
According to Wikipedia, the population of Maryland is 5,633,600 people. Assuming that only half pay taxes, which is more than fair in my opionion, that leaves us with 2,816,800 tax payers.
Doing our math on this:
$206,000,000/2,816,800 = $73.13 per tax payer
So, the Right (and some Democrats no doubt) lead you to believe that increasing taxes on the rich will drive them away leaving only the middle and lower classes to make up the difference. Sorry but I’m a lot happier paying barely $100 more A YEAR than other alternatives… look what California is facing. Also keep in mind that inflation is a little more than 4% a year so an extra $100 per tax payer may not be so bad.
Of course this blog is assuming the rich were driven out because of higher taxes. One article from the Baltimore Sun actually suggests it’s due to the estate tax being so high in Maryland.
I’ve always had a conspiracy theory about weight problems in our country.
I was watching Bill Maher last week, he had David Kessler on his show, talking about his new book The End Of Overeating… basically confirmed part of my theory.
My beliefs are that the food companies/restaurants are causing us to be obese. They sell these huge portions figuring they can sell more food for more money. We don’t really have a choice in this matter. It’s not like I can go to one of the places at the mall and ask for half a serving, it’s all or nothing. We’ve become accustom to eating that much food. And when you buy a meal like that, not eating all of it is just a waste if you throw it away.
I’ve never had problems with my weight, however, but when I started to notice the scale going up to uncomfortable levels (155-160), I decided to cut back. I ditched the typical mall food ($6+ for more than a serving), and started to eat either a pretzel, a subway sandwich (6 inch), a steak sub, or an ice cream. (Also saved money too.) I also started doing a little exercising, but the big thing is cutting back. I think I’m a healthy weight now and tend to keep up with what I’m doing.
Stopping yourself from eating is always a hard thing to do but it needs to be done. I only eat until I’m completely full about once a week. Other than that, I really limit the amount of food I take. It takes a lot of discipline, but it is possible. Don’t eat until you’re full.
News broke yesterday, right before Obama’s Congressional Speech, that a decision has been made about Iraq. Obama campaigned on a 16 month withdraw date. Since taking office, apparently, he feels that 16 months is too soon and wants to extend it to 19 months.
Some may think, oh it’s just three months, that’s fine. I don’t. Obama is going back on one of his campaign promises to get the troops out of there. Furthermore, Iraqi leaders have already agreed to Obama’s timetable (which no doubt gave him a lot of kudos). Obama is basically giving the same time of withdraw that Bush gave (2011).
I know not many liberals will get on him about this decision, but I feel he went back on his word, and he deserves flack for it. I understand that until he got in there could he fully understand the severity of the situation. However, I feel that since he is going back on his word, it brings us back. It brings us back to the Bush days of “oh a few more months”, “give it another six months”, “we’ll know by X date”.
Also, I would like to point out that even after “withdraw”, we will still have residual (“non combat”) forces there. Estimates are as much as 50,000 troops. In my opinion, this is completely unacceptable.
To me, this decision is major, as I’ve been strongly against the war since its beginning. I don’t want to go back to the days were our leaders keep pushing withdraw back and back. I want to see our troops come home. I voted for Obama to bring them home.
Let’s even forget about how us antiwar folks feel for a second. The Republicans are going to have a field day. Yes, they love the result (more time in Iraq) but the bottom line is it gives them ammunition against Obama saying he went back on his word.
I hope K O does a special comment or something about this news. I’m pretty mad right now. I hope others get mad about this decision as well. We need to hold Obama accountable. I know he can’t fulfill every campaign promise, but this one is major.
Now that the Bush Presidency is FINALLY over, I thought I’d recap what’s probably the worst mistakes of the past eight years. Reflecting on these mistakes, I sincerely hope we can move past them with an Obama Administration and correct all the blunders that haave occured. It will take a long time but I am confident that our country will transend the past and become the nation we ought to be.
Undoing what Bush has done, some experts say, could take decades. Some of these errors alone may never be corrected. So much damage has been done.
Here are the twenty five things I feel were the worst things that went on during the Bush 43 Administration.
- No Child Left Behind
- Inaction On Illegal Immigration
- Mission Accomplished
- Inaction In Darfur
- Budget Deficits – the souring national debt (now more than $10.6 trillion), taking a surplus and giving the top 10% tax cuts, billions needlessly spent in Iraq for contractors (Halliburton, Blackwater, etc)
- End Of Tariffs – Free Trade which caused a lot of US companies to outsource and send jobs overseas
- Handling Of North Korea – again a little foreign policy could have gone a long way
- Handling Of Iran – the inability to exercise foreign policy, turning our backs, not willing to sit down and talk to other nations
- Katrina
- Valerie Plame Scandal
- Alberto Gonzales Scandal
- Treatment Of Our Veterans
- The Patriot Act – warrantless wiretapping and civil liberties being taken away in the name of terror, spying on American citizens, the shredding of the Constitution (you know, that GD piece of paper)
- Over 150 Signing Statements – more than any other president in history, did a lot of damage and pushed us back in such areas as the enviornment
- Torture – Abu Ghraib, water boarding, violations of the Geneva Convention
- Initiation And Mismanagement Of The Iraq War
- Souring Energy Prices – really has hurt the middle class, a lot of people have not recovered, families suffered
- Bush’s Supreme Court Justice Appointments – probably one of the worst things he has ever done, this country has regressed dramatically
- America’s Image And The Exploitation Of September 11th – after 9/11 the world was behind us but this Administration resorted to scare tactics in order to push its own agenda, we have fallen as a leader in the world, the Bush Administration has used terror and the threat of another 9/11 to scare the American people
- Inaction On The Healthcare Crisis – SCHIP vetoed (one of the most successful programs)
- Lack Of Foresight On The Housing Crisis – a little Government regulation could have gone a long way towards stopping aggressive lending practices
- Nievity On Economic Crisis – statements like “the fundamentals of our economy are strong”, the lack of government regulation and oversight
- Millions Of Jobs Lost
- Lack Of Government Accountability – from war crimes to warrentless wiretapping to the budget this administration has NOT been held accountable
- Inaction Against Global Warming – Kyoto Accord not being signed, editing of scientific documents that prove Global Warming is happening, lying in speeches of how we need to move to alternative energy yet blocking legislation that calls for it
Brian and I are in the process of buying our first house. My father once told me there are a lot of incentives for first time home buyers. After doing hours of research, I find there really aren’t any. There is actually only one we could find that we actually qualify for ($7,500 “loan” that we pay back through taxes). All the rest are for incomes less than what we’re making. Of course, we’re trying to find ones in Maryland and from Montgomery County. We make too much money! We make a little over the MEAN income in MoCo.
It blows my mind. One of the programs can give us a mortgage rate of some 5.5% (fixed). We just got approval from our bank at 4.75% (fixed). Yeah, who would go with that?
My question is, what the hell do these politicians do? They obviously just sit on their asses and not pass things that need to be passed. Or update laws and programs that need to catch up with the times. 5.5% would have been great a few years ago, but now it’s pretty high. All these programs we can’t qualify for because we make too much money, how come they haven’t been updated? Bri and I are a little below middle class. We don’t qualify for anything! Who does? We couldn’t afford a house if we made less. These programs need to be updated. I don’t know anyone who it applies to, they all make too much money! But we don’t make that much, honestly!
The lady who lives below me had her childrens school food benefit (where the state assists in school lunches) taken away from her because she got a little pay raise and now she doesn’t qualify anymore. She can’t afford not to have it.
I just want to know why these programs haven’t been updated for inflation. It took 10 years to increase minimum wage, it took 28 years to increase the FDIC insurance to $250,000. What the hell do these people do who should be passing laws to update these very important programs?
I’m not good at writing things that are inspirational and meaningful but I would like to take a minute to try to write how important it is to vote.
Like I was telling some of my friends who are not registered to vote and aren’t political: Voting gives us a say in our country. Voting gives us the power to choose our future. Thinking that the entire system is corrupt is no excuse. Many have fought (and still fight) and died for this right we have. Many in the world do not have the opportunity to decide anything in their country. We should take advantage of the rights we have.
The 2000 election was decided by some 537 votes. That’s it. Saying your opinion, your vote doesn’t matter simply isn’t true.
Please, get out and vote TOMORROW, NOVEMBER 4, 2008. If you’re not sure where you vote visit vote411.org for your location.
A quick note on voter fraud: No, the election for Democrats is not November 5, it’s November 4, like EVERYONE ELSE, on the SAME DAY, regardless. And no, you won’t get arrested for not paying child support or if you have a speeding ticket or whatever else you may have heard if you try to vote. They are Republican scare tactics and they are UNTRUE to try to get you not to vote. Don’t let that happen.
Another quick note, don’t let poll numbers discourage you to vote either. Get out to the polls no matter what. Even if you’re 100% confident your candidate will/will not win, still get out there. Your vote DOES matter.
Furthermore, don’t let long lines to vote discourage you. Please wait it out and get your say. Maybe try to coinvince your boss to let you go early so you can get there, or try to go in the morning or during lunch. But get out there regardless.
Too close to election time. I forgot to post this. Here’s a list of all the McCain gaffes and misspeaks he’s said this past election.
2007: McCain: “I was in a conference in Germany over the weekend and President Putin of Germany gave one of the old Cold War style speeches as he addressed the conference there.”
2008: McCain: “And I’m going to tell them, I don’t agree with Senator Obama that they cling to their religion and the constitution because they’re bitter.”
2008: McCain: “I believe that, when he said that we had to leave Iraq, and we had to be out by last March, and we had to have a date certain, that was in contravention to, and still is, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General David Petraeus.”
2008: McCain: “And I’m afraid it’s a very hard struggle. Particularly given the situation on the Iraq-Pakistan border.”
2008: McCain: “Because of the surge, we were able to go out and protect that sheik and others and it began the Anbar Awakening. I mean, that’s just a matter of history.” (The Anbar Awakening began in September 2006, months before the surge was even discussed.)
2008: McCain: “The fact is we had four years of failed policy; we were losing. We were losing the war in Iraq. The consequences of failure and the defeat of the United States of America in the first major conflict since 9/11 would have had devastating impacts throughout the region and the world.” (Afghanistan anyone?)
2008: McCain: “We continue to be concerned about Iranian taking Al Qaeda into Iran, training them and sending them back.” and “Well, it’s common knowledge and has been reported in the media that Al Qaeda is going back into Iran and receiving training and are coming back into Iraq from Iran. That’s well known. And it’s unfortunate.” (Joe Lieberman had to correct him.)
2008: McCain: “It was al-Sadr that declared the ceasefire, not Maliki.” (It was actually members of Prime Minister Maliki’s government who brokered the ceasefire in Basra, Sadr agreed.)
2008: McCain: “How can we bring pressure on the government of Somalia?” (Mark Salter corrected him by saying “Sudan”.)
2008: McCain: “We have drawn down to presurge levels.” (The US currently had 150,000 troops in Iraq at the time. Pre surge levels were at 130,000.)
2008: McCain: “Basra, Mosul, and now Sadr City are quiet.” (Mosul on the same day suffered three suicide bombings.)
2008: McCain: “I was concerned about a couple of steps that the Russian government took in the last several days. One was reducing the energy supplies to Czechoslovakia.” (Czechoslovakia doesn’t exist anymore. It’s the Czech Republic and Slovakia.)
2008: McCain: “I think it’s a pretty good timetable, as we should have our horizons for withdraw.” (Which then he denied a day later) “I didn’t use the word timetable.”
2008: McCain: “I believe that it’s not an accident that our hostages came home from Iran when President Reagan was president of the United States. He didn’t sit down in a negotiation with the religious extremists in Iran, he made it very clear that those hostages were coming home.” (McCain seems to forget that the hostages were freed because of the Algiers Accords which Warren Christopher and the Carter Administration had negotiated. Nothing to do with Reagan.)
2008: McCain: “Ahmadinejad is, was the leader.” (Political authority rests with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, not the president of Iran. As for foreign policy, Ahmadinejad has very little influence.)
2008: McCain: “There is a very clear standard in the Constitution requiring not only just compensation in the use of eminent domain, but also that private property may not be taken for public use.” (The constitution says “nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation”.)
2008: McCain: “In the twenty first century, nations don’t invade other nations.” (Did he forget Iraq again?)
2008: McCain: “So the compact that is in effect, obviously, needs to be renegotiated over time amongst the interested parties. I think that there’s a movement amongst the governors to try, if not, quote, renegotiate, certainly adjust to the new realities of high growth, of greater demands on a scarcer resource.” (Talking about the Colorado River Compact. Mitt Romney later corrected him.)
2008: McCain: “We should be able to deliver bottled hot water to dehydrated babies…”
2008: McCain: “I’ve bought American literally all my life, and I’m proud.” (Yet he owns a Honda, Volkswagen, and a Lexus.)
2008: McCain: “Across this country, this is the agenda I’ve set before my fellow prisoners…”
2008: McCain: “If we had done what Senator Obama wanted done in Iraq, and that was set a date for withdrawal, which General Petraeus, our chief, chairman of our Joint Chiefs of Staff…” (Again, Petraeus isn’t the chairman of the Joint Chiefs Of Staff.)
2008: McCain: “I think you may have noticed that Senator Obama’s supporters have been saying some pretty nasty things about western Pennsylvania lately… And you know, I couldn’t agree with him more…”
In an effort to not be 100% bias, here are a few gaffes of Obama’s.
2008: Obama: “On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes, and I see many of them in the audience here today…”
2008: Obama: “If they just gave him some treatment early and they got some treatment and a breathalyzer or inhalator. Not a breathalyzer. I haven’t had much sleep in the past forty eight hours, so.”
You know, I’m really getting tired of getting emails and reading news articles and postings by people who are so ignorant. I just got another email today about how Obama said how the flag to some is “a symbol of oppression” and how “the anthem itself conveys a war-like message”. Of course snopes.com has this as false.
I read more and more how Obama is a Muslim or Arab, can’t be trusted, has terrorist ties, etc. Why don’t people fact check? Why are some people so ignorant? They say he’s a Muslim but then what’s all this controversy about a Christian Pastor? This is all stupid. And anyway, what’s wrong with believing in another religion? To steal a line from South Park, I thought this was America! Maybe people here are shocked and suprised that people have tolerance and acceptance towards other ideas. It’s like they woke up and said “Wow, I can’t believe it! America is actually how we imagined it!”
And I blame John McCain for not setting these people straight. If he says “I have repudiated every time someone’s been out of line, whether they’ve been part of my campaign or not, and I will continue to do that.” Then, tell me, how come he doesn’t come out about the people at Palin’s rally’s, shouting “terrorist” and “kill him”? How come Palin hasn’t come out and said anything about it? How come McCain’s own spokesperson, Nancy Pfotenhauer has said that parts of Virginia who are responsive to McCain are “real Virginia”, McCain hasn’t repudiated that? What about all the shouts of “kill him” and “terrorist” at Palin rally’s, McCain hasn’t repudiated that? How come McCain hasn’t repudiated his own VP pick for saying the “real America” and “pro-America” places of the United States? What about Rush Limbaugh’s reason of how Powell endorsed Obama because of race, yet McCain won’t repudiate it?
McCain seems to not repudiate anything. He’d rather sacrifice his integrity and support hatred than loose a campaign. Doesn’t he not want to be a part of this? If he doesn’t, I don’t see how.
As many of you know, Brian was running for House Of Representatives until my father passed away. Things got crazy (and it’s still crazy) so he decided to drop out. Before he did, he gathered a bunch of views and ideas he had and put them up on his website.
Since the idiots in Congress can’t get their act together and pass a bill that would try to save us all from hell, I persuaded Brian to start calling around and tell them his idea. This idea would fix the housing market which would lead to a more stable economy, thus saving us all from a recession or depression. Here’s his plan (from his website):
In the past couple of months many people have noticed mortgage companies and banks have been losing a lot of money and people are being forced out of their homes. It is terrible when people lose their life savings, their homes, and have their credit ruined all in one fell swoop. I think there are a couple of very simple steps to correct this situation so no more people will fall prey to this kind of lending again.
The first thing to do is save people who are in foreclosure or who are about to go into foreclosure. In order to do this, I propose that we use the HUD (Department of Housing and Urban Development) to refinance all the loans that are resetting to higher rates into fixed rate mortgages. I would also increase the amount of time that a family has to pay back the loan from a traditional 15 or 30 years so that they can spread out the payments to something that they can still afford today (say a 60 year mortgage) with no penalties for early payment. People can say in their homes with a mortgage that is manageable. Also, they should be able to pay towards the mortgage what they can afford to spare in order to pay the loan off faster without penalty.
The second step to saving the mortgage industry is to enact legislation that will stop predatory lending. This legislation should force mortgage companies and brokers to make potential buyers more aware of the consequences of the loans they sign.
Just wanted to put Brian’s idea out there. He already called a few of our Maryland congressmen and explained it. They probably won’t get back to him cause they don’t care.
Brian doesn’t care if he gets credit for this idea or not. He just wants a solution, as do I, as should all of us.
If you think this is a good idea, share it or whatever.