State of the Union

The election is over. For many it went as hoped. For others a disappointment. I personally did not vote for Obama, not because of his determination, not because of his views on a united people, but simply over policy differences. I simply believe in an open market system, a balanced federal budget, decreased deficit and that lower investment tax actually generates greater tax revenue. However, while I may not have voted for our next President, I am still happy. Happy, not becaue of the outcome, but inspite of the outcome. Happy, not because I am optimistic that Obama’s plans will help America, but because others are optimistic that Obama’s plans will help America. I have seen numerous election results televised, but rarely have I seen so many people as passionate and excited. I am happy, because they are happy. I am hopeful, because they are hopeful. I do not agree with the outcome, but I will forever defend the people’s right to choose. Our ability to pick our own destiny as a country is one that few others have. Our right to voice our support for a candidate or political view without fear is beyond any other people on Earth. I have been blessed to be a part of the greatest nation that has existed and in doing so I exercise rights that few others have. In exchage I must respect and defend the rights others have exerised. So yes, I am happy because others are happy. I am hopeful because others are hopeful. Tonight I say good-bye to John McCain, a candidate I have supported for over 10 years. He is too old to consider another run. Congratulations to all those who supported President-elect Obama. After tonight it is no longer “us vs. them”. President-elect Obama is now the President WE have elected. I pray we have choosen wisely.

Obama-mercial

I’ve watched. I’ve Listened. I have heard promises of how, if I would believe in this product, my life will be easier. All of my worries will ‘melt’ away. Just like those late night infomercials, of a product that seems to good to be true, you have a hesitation. That hesitation is my signal not to hand over my credit card.

Unfortunately, the product in this infomercial I do not have that choice.

I get it. One after another every hesitation and worry was acknowledged by Obama. I believe he understands what every American is worried about. Understanding is one thing, solving is another. The ability to solve every worry of every American as President is not possible.

How much did this 30 minute, during prime time television, campaign commercial cost? Do you find comfort in the fact that Obama will spend ANY amount of your money to be elected?

Presidential Debates II & III

[photo via current.com]

How does that song go? …This verse the same as the first…

I believe Obama won. Not hard to come in with confidence when you have a commanding lead. His attitude has been noticable different from the first debate and the final one last night.

I haven’t been impressed with McCain’s debating abilities. He comes across as angry. When he tries to lighten the mood it is with a bad joke he has been using on the campaign trail. Then he flub’s the punchline.

I can deal with his grumpy demeanor. It comes with being old. What really sets me off though is his instance at trying to match Obama’s “give away” plan. Don’t say we should buy-out those bad mortgages. What is the benchmark for deciding that one? Never mind…

Why didn’t McCain come in and kill us with logic?

Obama, you say your administration is based on a pay as you go administration. Isn’t that misleading? Isn’t it really tax and spend? Because in order for your energy policy to work you would need to illegally take $150 billion dollars from the oil companies windfall profits. By the way, is that just once or every year? I know they have made an obscene amount of money, but will it stop with just oil companies? What about drug companies? What about Google? What will the benchmark be?

How are  you going, or are we going to decide, who is evil? Well not exactly evil, just enough to not feel bad to take their money?

You have said you want to reverse Bush’s Tax Cuts. How can you reverse the Bush Tax Cuts and still say you’re going to give a tax cut to 95% of Americans?

You are going to give 95% of Americans a tax cut. Is that every American or just those that actually pay taxes? If you weren’t aware, about 30-40% of Americans don’t pay ANY taxes. He is going to raise the taxes of those making more than $250K a year. Those individuals have to pay for the tax break to the 95% of Americans.

Is the $250K crowd also responsible for the cost of your health plan?

How many people don’t make $250/yr after the roller coaster ride of the stock market? Will you bail them out?

If the economy has been so bad, how did the market climb to 14,000 over the last 8 years? If the market doesn’t go down, how can it go back up? When it’s down how many more people get a chance to get in and benefit?

Obama, when you say you are for those couples worried about when they are going to be able to retire. The family trying to save for their kids college education. The guy who has worked in a plant for 20 years who’s job has been shipped over seas. Besides words of comfort, what are you going to do? That has a record of working?

As far as the war in Iraq, you wouldn’t redeploy troops if things were not going well. Right? Things are going well in Iraq because of the surge. So if you redeploy troops are you not justifying the surge?

Can you explain redeploying troops to send them to Afghanistan?

I’m sure Obama would have been able to answer all these questions easily. So McCain would have to go the fear card… When Obama can’t get all the funding from the ultra rich (those making more than $250K a year) or the evil oil companies to pay for all your new entitlements who do you think he will turn to? You? No, the House and the Senate. They will pass a bill and make you pay for them.

Warning

I received the following email today (thought I’d share):

Have you ever heard that a dog “knows” when an earthquake is about to hit?  Have you ever heard that a dog can “sense” when a tornado is stirring up even 20 miles away?  Do you remember hearing that before the December tsunami struck Southeast Asia, dogs started running frantically away from the seashore, at breckneck speed?  Do you know that dogs can detect cancer and other serious illnesses and danger of fire?  Somehow they always know when they can “go for a ride” before you even ask and how do those dogs and cats get home from hundreds of miles away?  I’m a firm believer that animals – and especially dogs – have keen insights into the Truth.  And you can’t tell me that dogs can’t sense a potentially terrible disaster well in advance.  Simply said, a dogs just KNOWS when something isn’t right – when impending doom is upon us – they’ll always try to warn us.!!

The Winning Strategy: Hate

All Obama, and those Democrats running for The Senate or The House, has had to do to win is point out why you hate his/her opponent.

It’s an easy way to win. It’s not that it didn’t take any effort. Well, no effort on the Republicans part. Democrats have been blaming the Republicans for everything wrong and the Republicans have not challenged them on it.

The war in Iraq: Even though a majority of Democrats have been for the war. Both troop levels and funding. I know, you were misled into an unjust war. Great leadership. Yet you fall for that disclaimer? Own your decisions.

Economy: Really? You are going to blame over inflated property values, bad financial decisions, and a loop-hole in the lending industry on Republicans? I know Obama warned us. A speech on the floor of the Senate. He didn’t do anything more because he couldn’t. The only Senator that might have been able do do anything is Senator Barney Frank. He of course is denying any responsibility and is betting on your ignorance that you’ll believe him when he says it was the Republicans responsibility.

Job Losses: Again really? President George Bush and the Republican party insisted the “Major 3″ automakers keep shoveling money into gas guzzling and highly profitable SUV’s. Even though oil and gas prices were sky rocketing. Resulting in the closures of plants that only built or made parts for SUV’s.

There is only ONE reason you could swallow all this bullshit and believe it…

HATE for Republicans!

Listen to Obama’s played out mantra:

…elect McCain if you want four more years of the same…

Nice use of fear. Especially when Obama is promising EVERYTHING!

Lions For Lambs

I finally saw the movie Lions For Lambs. I wish I would have seen it sooner. I avoided it because it had been dubbed a political hack piece. I watched and seemed less bias and even ironic. The irony was because it is very critical of Iraq but even more so of the thought to begin concentrating efforts in Afganistan. In case you’re not following my thought… Obama has been telling us how his administration would redeploy troops. This would allow him to send more troops, to Afganistan, to go after Osama Bin Laden “…and follow him back to the cave he has been hiding in!” (a paraphrased qoute used during Obama’s acceptance speech)
That certainly makes Obama a Lion for change…

Spin War

So I seem to be doing nothing be getting irritated with McCain and Obama.  Today’s irritation just happens to be aimed at Obama.  I’m sure there are instances where McCain has done something like this, but it’s Obama I caught.  As I was driving into work there was a radio commercial talking about McCain’s proposed tax credit for families to purchase health insurance.  The Obama ad goes on and on about how families would be “taxed” on this credit, so for the first time ever Americans would be “taxed” for their health benefits.  The point obviously being “bad McCain for taxing Americans for their health insurance.”  I sat there a second and then thought, what the hell are they talking about?  We get taxed on EVERY credit.  Whether it’s child care tax credit, earned income tax credit, the “stimulus” tax credit, etc… Every credit that results in a refund is required to be included in your tax return as “income” and therefore theoretically gets taxed.  The reason we haven’t had our “health benefits” taxed in the past is because we’ve never had a credit for them.  So look at it this way – right now if you spend $5,000 a year purchasing health insurance you are out $5,000.  If you fall within the category of people who can deduct that amount you’ll get to deduct about $1,200 of that at most (though we’ve never qualified for the deduction, so this is unlikely at best).  It’s not a credit, so you don’t get refunded on it.  But best case – you have spent $3,800 (worst case you’ve spent $5,000).  Now, with the new credit proposed, you would get the entire $5,000 deducted/refunded (depending on your tax liability).  WORST case is you get it all refunded, but then you’ll have to pay taxes on it, so we’ll say $1,200 in taxes.  You still take home $3,800.  So the worst case situation under the McCain plan results in you paying $1,200 for health insurance and the best case under the current system results in you paying $3,800 for the same health insurance.  There are lots of variations (most of them making this distinction even greater), but no matter how you cut it up, call it a tax or some other spin, you still come out ahead with the McCain proposal (assuming you buy your own health insurance).  Now, whether you like the idea of a new unfunded credit/benefit program is a whole other question…

Let Them Have It

All I have learned over the pass week of this downard spiralimg economy is…
I’m not sure because whenever Obama has addressed the issue I have heard his “open mic night” schtick ridiculing Bush, McCain, and Republicans handling of the issue. Once Obama does reach the “what i’d do to solve it” all I hear is more oversight and regulation.

That isn’t a solution to solving the problems now. Oversight and regulation are tools used to not get where we are today.

So how do we solve the HUGE politicized economy problems?
Treasury Secretary Paulsen presented a solution to the House and Senate. Buy-out the bad debt, home loans, with the government holding the note. Then once the markets recover and real estate turns around the government will benefit from their regained value. Restarting the cycle.

Hint: We will get the tax dollars back once the economy goes back up [smiling, now laughing my ass off] No, that won’t happen

So why hasn’t anyone taken the bull by the horns?
Nobody wants to take the blame. That is why again today we have heard from Democrats of how McCain has screwed it up. Really? The Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a democrat… wait a minute! The Democrats are the majority of the Senate.

Show your LEADERSHIP and navigate this country out of this economic downturn!

Besides, wasn’t the sticking point for Republicans the additional stimulis package the Democrats added?

I’m done. You want this shit sandwich sooo bad then take it! otherwise quit trying to convince me you do, and get out of the way of those who do.

Hint: If Obama happens to nut up and win this election. The first 100 days will be when we hear …fixing the problems of the last administration… as the reason to support the tax increase.

McCain and Palin 2008

I wanted to write this post a few weeks ago. First I paused because of all the hype and smears coming from the Dem’s. I wanted to see if there was anything valid to their attacks. It was evident nothing was going to stick. I also began to find comfort in their attacks.

It was something that Obama said in his speech at the DNC convention and was directed to the McCain campaign and RNC. [paraphrasing]

…this election is not going to be determined by the small things…

The small things are being used by the Obama campaign to discredit Palin:

• Palin has no experience: sounds like Clinton spin used against Obama during the primary
• Palin is the Governor of Alaska: evidently the 650,000 residents of Alaska don’t matter. In the same sense as the residents of Michigan and Florida residents votes didn’t matter in the DNC primaries.

The other criticisms actually are what scares the Dem’s the most. But those criticisms are also what energized the Republican party:

Palin is married and a parent of 5 children. Palin was raised to appreciate the outdoors and likes to hunt.

That two sentence description has sent chill’s down the spines of the Dem’s because she embodies the core beliefs of most Republicans. Those beliefs are in God, life, and to bare arms.

There are also Palin’s accomplishments that the Dem’s don’t want to highlight:

• Palin managed a budget that resulted in a surplus: That surplus was given back to the residents of Alaska. Do you know how she was able to manage a surplus? She increased the corporate taxes on the oil companies.
• How about the now infamous bridge to no where: The Dem’s want you to know she was for it before she was against it. Palin even ran for Govenor in support of the bridge to nowhere. That is because at the time it appeared to be the right thing to do. Instead, and something you have to do in a leadership role, she realized that the cost was to great and was actually going to hurt the residents.

It’s Simple

The Dem’s are scared and have realized that Obama made a mistake. A mistake that has highlighted his lack of leadership and vision for change. In my opinion Obama had this election locked after HE was chosen as the nominee. This left Hillary to be chosen as his running mate. The Democrats could have had the first Afro-American President and Woman Vice President.

The petty attacks and one-liners prove it.

Hint: Palin is the real canidate and is being positioned to be there for awhile.

[photo via: for the love of dayton]

Taxing Economy

So I saw yet another email outlining quotes and comparisons between Obama and McCain. It really wasn’t much different, just lots of opinions and unsupported claims all put forward as “fact”. This was a bit different in that it tried to appear legitimate by putting footnotes to sources. Only problem is those “sources” were other articles and blogs of other people’s opinions. I don’t know if it truly has sunk in to them that citing someone else’s opinion does not make your opinion a fact. What really irritated me was one of the quotes “cited” the Tax Policy Center, a non-partisan organization that simply analyzes tax policies (I know, I’m thinking of crashing their next Christmas party too!!!) Well, turns out the quote was crap, just a cite to someone else’s article giving their “take” on what the Tax Policy Center said. So, screw them all, I went and read the report myself – well I tried, it’s really boring. Fortunately there is an Executive Summary that was prepared and issued September 15, 2008. Great, up to date summaries of the impact of McCain and Obama’s tax policies. If you want the actual numbers, go read it (ok, I really did read it), but if you want the USA Today/ADD version, here are the direct quotes from the Abstract and Intro:

Both John McCain and Barack Obama have proposed tax plans that would substantially increase the national debt over the next ten years, according to a newly updated analysis by the non-partisan Tax Policy Center. Compared to current law, TPC estimates the Obama plan would cut taxes by $2.9 trillion from 2009-2018. McCain would reduce taxes by nearly $4.2 trillion. Obama would give larger tax cuts to low- and moderate-income households and pay some of the cost by raising taxes on high-income taxpayers. In contrast, McCain would cut taxes across the board and give the biggest cuts to the highest-income households.

Both John McCain and Barack Obama have proposed tax plans that would substantially increase the national debt over the next ten years, according to a newly updated analysis by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center.
Neither candidate’s plan would significantly increase economic growth unless offset by spending cuts or tax increases that the campaigns have not specified.

CRAP! I don’t want MORE debt, who the hell thinks that’s a good idea? How about we cut back on the freakin’ crab mating studies or consolidate federal agencies (do we really need 20+ intelligence agencies, I’m guessing they would work better with fewer too). There are just way too many ineffeciencies and ridiculous expenditures so that we are looking at increasing debt. People all around the United States are cutting back on “luxury” expenses (i.e. coffee, extra trips in the vehicle), some have lost food, shelter, etc… I’m all for cutting taxes, but maybe we should do it by cutting back on unnecessary expenses in the federal government or even reducing parts of the government. Or MAYBE we can not spend billions of dollars bailing out companies that had poor business models. They are called SUB-PRIME for a reason idiots!!!!