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Progressives harping about camp finance reform for years.

Posted By: Until now, falls on deaf ears....sm on 2008-10-29
In Reply to: Unidentified donors for Obama... - sm

We've heard virtually nothing out of the republican party on this issue (except resistance) until how. Why is that? Could it be because they never expected democrats to beat them at their own game?

Spare us the phoney outrage. As the law stands now, those small potatoes contributions up to $200 have not been an issue until Obama received such a landslide of them and raised more money than any other candidate in history.

You want somebody to do something about this? You will have to start at the beginning...swallow the bitter pill and enact campaign finance reform. Until then, you can raise all the questions you want to raise.

PS: Ghadafi's claims that foreign national fundraising is "legitimate" is pertinent to this argument how? Have you seen the global electoral map lately? The entire world has their eyes on this election (hoping against hope we will not elect another saber-rattler) and are entitled to have an opinion.

http://www.economist.com/Vote2008/ Take a look.


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progressives don't like to

wildly exaggerate so probably estimated low to avoid being hysterically over the top.


 


Where were you when Franks and Dodds and the dem controlled finance committee
the financial crisis in its wake?




not toward secular progressives is right! LOL
realize that could mean two things when you abbreviate...
No, you have it backwards. McCain was harping on how...sm
much experience he had and how little Obama had. When he picked Palin and said her experience was sufficient to be president is when all the republicans, and "independents" starting comparing Obama to Palin as far as what the perceive experience to be.
excuse me, my moaning and harping
you don't know if i've ever moaned or harped. you're the one who needs to lighten up and you are rude, offensive, vulgar and should be banned
Well, you talked a little about tax reform, but
The only reason you haven't heard about Obama's tax cuts is because you have not been listening. His tax cut program will benefit 95% of the population, those individuals making less than $250,000 per year. Obama's plan also has an increase in deduction amounts for working families. I'll skip the scare tactics and terrorist innuendoes. They have nothing to do with the subject at hand…the economy. Preach that sermon to the choir. Nobody else is listening.

O's plan also proposes simplification of the tax code and streamlining tax filing. With regard to earmarks, Obama Transparency and Integrity in Earmarks Act would require disclosing the name of the legislator who asked for each earmark, along with a written justification, 72 hours before they can be considered by the full Senate. There are also provisions for tax relief to small businesses.

So it seems that you think tax policies take care of the economy issue. But what about unemployment, jobs, worker's right's, minimum wage, stagnant wages, cost of health care and medical insurance, trade, outsourcing, energy, infrastructure, the mortgage crisis, predatory credit and lending practices, the stock market, etc. Does McCain have anything that remotely compares with this?

1. $1000 energy rebate.
2. State growth fund/Jobs growth fund job loss prevention measures.
3. Tax cuts to working families.
4. Eliminate income tax for seniors making less than $50,000/yr.
5. Simplify tax code.
6. Trade policy reform.
7. Revise NAFTA to favor American jobs preservation.
8. Improve jobs transition assistance.
9. Tax credits to companies that preserve US jobs.
10. Establish Advanced Manufacturing Fund to encourage innovation and jobs creation.
11. Increased funding for Manufacturing Extension Program to create and protect US jobs.
12. 5 million new green jobs.
13. New job training programs for clean technologies.
14. Extend Production Tax Credit in renewable energy sector.
15. Create National Infrastructure Investment Bank.
16. Invest in science.
17. Make research and development tax credit permanent.
18. Reform Universal Service Fund to provide and expand broadband across America with new tax and loan incentives.
19. Tax relief for small businesses and start-up companies.
20. Create network of public-private business incubators.
21. Ensure freedom to unionize.
22. Ensure worker's right to organize.
23. Protect striking workers.
24. Raise minimum wage.
25. Crack down on fraudulent brokers and lenders.
26. Create universal mortgage credit.
27. Ensure more accountability in the subprime mortgage industry.
28. Mandate accurate loan disclosure.
29. Close bankruptcy loophole for mortgage companies.
30. Create credit card rating system to improve disclosure.
31. Establish credit card bill of rights to protect consumer.
32. Reform bankruptcy laws.
33. Cap interest rats on payday loans.
34. Encourage lending institutions to make small consumer loans.
35. Expand Family Medical Leave Act.
36. Encourage companies to adopt paid leave policies.
37. Expand after-school opportunities.
38. Expand Child and Dependent Care tax credit.
39. Protect against caregiver discrimination.
40. Expand flexible work arrangements.

Earmark Reform

Obama To Push Earmark Reform At Omnibus Signing
















Obama to sign spending bill, push for new rules


Obama plans to sign spending legislation, push for new rules that would crack down on earmarks


PHILIP ELLIOTT
AP News


Mar 11, 2009 06:09 EST



President Barack Obama plans to sign a massive spending bill to keep the federal government running, even though it is stashed with the very kinds of pet projects that the campaigning Obama promised to resist.






Obama could sign the $410 billion spending package as early as Wednesday, although he remains "troubled" by the so-called earmarks in the bill that Republicans and moderate Democrats have assailed as unworthy pork-barrel spending. The president planned to use the signing ceremony to announce earmark reforms.


White House officials in recent weeks have dismissed criticism of the earmarks in the bill, saying the legislation was a remnant of last year and that the president planned to turn his attention to future spending instead of looking backward.


White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama wouldn't be the first president to sign legislation that he viewed as less than ideal. Asked whether Obama had second thoughts about signing the bill, Gibbs' reply was curt: "No."


"This is necessary to continue funding government," Gibbs said. "It represents last year's business. Although it's not perfect, the president will sign the legislation, but demonstrate for all involved rules moving forward that he thinks can make this process work a little bit better."


It's that process that administration official planned to focus on Wednesday, not a bill signing that might take place in private. Aides said the administration would move to introduce new "rules of the road" that could allow Obama greater sway over lawmakers, particularly on politically embarrassing spending that generated mockery from pundits and rival politicians.


During his presidential campaign, Obama promised to force Congress to curb its pork-barrel-spending ways. Yet the bill sent from the Democratic-controlled Congress to the White House on Tuesday contained 7,991 earmarks totaling $5.5 billion, according to calculations by the Republican staff of the House Appropriations Committee.


While the White House would say only that Obama would announce new rules on earmarks on Wednesday, it was clear he wanted to rein in spending, particularly on the pet projects lawmakers inserted into the spending bill.


The 1,132-page bill has an extraordinary reach, wrapping together nine spending bills to fund the annual operating budgets of every Cabinet department except Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs. Among the many earmarks are $485,000 for a boarding school for at-risk native students in western Alaska and $1.2 million for Helen Keller International so the nonprofit can provide eyeglasses to students with poor vision.


Most of the government has been running on a stopgap funding bill set to expire at midnight Wednesday. Refusing to sign the newly completed spending bill would force Congress to pass another bill to keep the lights on come Thursday or else shut down the massive federal government. That is an unlikely possibility for a president who has spent just seven weeks in office.


The $410 billion bill includes significant increases in food aid for the poor, energy research and other programs. It was supposed to have been completed last fall, but Democrats opted against election-year battles with Republicans and former President George W. Bush.


The measure was a top priority for Democratic leaders, who praised it for numerous increases denied by Bush. It once enjoyed support from Republicans.


But the bill ran into an unexpected political hailstorm in Congress after Obama's spending-heavy economic stimulus bill and his 2010 budget plan, which forecast a $1.8 trillion deficit for the current budget year.


The bill's big increases — among them a 14 percent boost for a popular program that feeds infants and poor women and a 10 percent increase for housing vouchers for the poor — represent a clear win for Democrats who spent most of the past decade battling with Bush over money for domestic programs.


Generous above-inflation increases are spread throughout, including a $2.4 billion, 13 percent increase for the Agriculture Department and a 10 percent increase for the money-losing Amtrak passenger rail system. The measure also contains a provision denying lawmakers the automatic cost-of-living pay increase they are due next Jan. 1.


Health care reform

What do I think about H. Clinton's mandatory health insurance proposal?


Here's my situation....I'm in my mid 50's, have a few pre-existing conditions, and am an IC doing medical transcription for years. I have health insurance which will cover the pre-existing conditions, however I rarely use the policy and have not been in a hospital for over 10 years. In 1999 my premium for coverage was about $250.00 per month. That same policy now costs me $1,097.00 per month, and that is coverage for one person.


I don't know about Hillary's proposals, or that much about anyone else's for all that goes. I do know however, that health care reform is being discussed again, and from where I am sitting I am a very strong supporter of health care reform, be it mandatory coverage or any other proposals. I frankly cannot afford monthly health insurance premiums that are running over one thousand dollars a month, and if you ask me, monthly health insurance premiums as high as this are criminal, to say the least.


The Democrats have been blocking reform of...
Fannie and freddie since 2006. Both McCain and the Bush administration have tried. How did they do that? Killing bills in the Democratically controlled banking and finance committee. It started LONG before the last 2 years.
Americans for Tax Reform: The Candidates


Dear Friends,
1.  ATR Presidential Primer: Everything You Should Know about the Candidates’ Tax Proposals  (read more >>)


 ATR Presidential Primer: Everything You Should Know about the Candidates’ Tax Proposals



The 2008 election is only days away. Soon you’ll be called on to vote for your next President, U.S. Senator, and U.S. Representative. Are you familiar with all their tax policies? Do you know where the candidates stand on the issues closely related to your family budget?
 
Americans for Tax Reform has compiled a list of all the recent materials we’ve put out on the Presidential candidates. We think you’ll find these resources and links to be very useful in your decision-making process.
 
Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform, discusses his thoughts on the two presidential candidates in the Politico. You may want to take a quick read to see what he thinks hinges on this election.
 
Educational Resources:
 
- Which candidates have signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge? See if your candidate has promised never to raise taxes. (Incumbents and Challengers)
 
- Americans for Tax Reform and Rutledge Capital Release Version 2.0 of Obama-McCain 401(k) Tax Calculator
 
- McCain v. Obama on Taxes
 
- McCain vs. Obama on Energy Taxes
 
- He$$ in a Hand basket: Life Under a Democrat Congress
 
- Five Things You Might Not Know About Obama’s Small Biz Tax Hike
 
- Obama’s “Spread the Wealth” Plan Raises Taxes on two-thirds of Small Business Profits
 
- If Obama Wants to “Spread the Wealth,” He Ought to Start With His Personal Tax Gap: Barack Obama Has a Tax Gap of Over $250,000
 
 - Obama to U.S. Companies: “Don’t Let the Door Hit You on the Way Out” Obama Supports Keeping U.S. Business Rate Second-Highest in World
 
- Worried About Your 401(k)? Start Asking Obama About the Corporate Income Tax Rate
 
- Obama Advisor Changes the Definition of “Welfare”: Free Money Handouts Are No Longer Enough
 
- Joe the Plumber cares about more than just his higher tax rates: Expensing his Equipment in year one
 
Please consider making a $10, $15, or $20 donation to help Americans for Tax Reform continue our work. Thank you for your generous support.



(<< back to top)


 


Onward,
Grover Norquist


Welfare Reform is a Success

Welfare Reform Reauthorized


Healthy Marriage, Fatherhood Initiative Approved; Work Requirement Strengthened


Today, President George W. Bush signed the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, which reauthorizes the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program administered by HHS’ Administration for Children and Families (ACF).


"The reauthorization of the TANF program takes the next step in welfare reform by strengthening work requirements and providing the assistance families need to climb the career ladder," HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt said. "Welfare reform is helping millions of people climb out of poverty. Now, we want to go the next step and help them climb the job ladder by creating more opportunities for education and job training."


The new law maintains the same 50 percent work participation requirement for states as before. However, prior to today’s reauthorization, a caseload reduction credit allowed states to reduce their work requirement by their caseload decline since 1996. As most states experienced dramatic caseloads declines, the credit had virtually eliminated the work participation requirements for most states.


Today's reauthorization recalibrates the base year for calculating the caseload reduction credit and also closes a loophole to include separate state programs in the work calculation. These changes effectively re-implement a meaningful state work participation rate requirement as envisioned by the architects of welfare reform back in 1996.


"The reauthorization of welfare reform, with its strengthened state work participation rate requirement, supports the Bush Administration's goal of ending the crippling cycle of welfare dependency," said HHS Assistant Secretary for Children and Families, Wade F. Horn, Ph.D. "Welfare reform is a success because more families and individuals are working and entering the economic mainstream and fewer children are growing up in poverty."


Today's reauthorization includes $150 million to support programs designed to help couples form and sustain healthy marriages. Up to $50 million of this amount may be used for programs designed to encourage responsible fatherhood. In its welfare reform law of 1996, Congress stipulated three of the four purposes of the TANF block grant to states be related to promoting healthy marriages.


"A key component of welfare reform is supporting healthy marriages and responsible fatherhood," Dr. Horn added. “Approval of these funds will help to achieve welfare reform's ultimate goal: improving the well-being of children."


The Healthy Marriage Initiative, administered by ACF, was created in 2002 by President Bush to help couples who have chosen marriage gain greater access to marriage education services, on a voluntary basis, where they can acquire the skills and knowledge necessary to form and sustain a healthy marriage. Funding for responsible fatherhood includes initiatives to help men be more committed, involved and responsible fathers, and the development of a national media campaign to promote responsible fatherhood.


The welfare reauthorization provisions also made several improvements to the child support enforcement program, including a change that will provide more support directly to families, especially those who have left welfare.


For more information on the Healthy Marriage Initiative, view: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/healthymarriage/.


9/11 Panel Gives Gov't Poor Marks on Reform

9/11 Panel Gives Gov't Poor Marks on Reform





By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press
Writer
35 minutes ago



More than four years after the Sept. 11 attacks, U.S. intelligence agencies
still are failing to share information while Congress battles over security
funding, a panel that investigated the terrorist hijackings will conclude in a
new report.


In interviews Friday, members of the former Sept. 11 commission said the
government should receive a dismal grade for its lack of urgency in
enacting strong security measures to prevent terror attacks.


The 10-member, bipartisan commission disbanded after issuing 41
recommendations to bolster the nation's security in July 2004. The members have
reconstituted themselves, using private funds, as the 9/11 Public Discourse
Project and will release a new report Monday assessing the extent their
directives have been followed.


Overall, the government has performed not very well, said former commission
chairman Thomas Kean, former Republican governor of New Jersey.


Before 9-11, both the Clinton and Bush administrations said they had
identified Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida as problems that have to be dealt with,
and were working on it, Kean said. But they just were not very high on their
priority list. And again it seems that the safety of the American
people is not very high on Washington's priority list.


A spokesman at the Homeland Security Department declined to comment until the
report is issued Monday. Rep. Pete King, R-N.Y., chairman of the House Homeland
Security Committee, acknowledged that some areas continue to be vulnerable but
have not been addressed due to disagreements with the Senate.


Congress established the commission in 2002 to investigate government
missteps that led to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. It found that the United
States could not protect its citizens from the attacks because it underestimated
al-Qaida. Since June, the former commissioners have held hearings to examine
what they described as the government's unfinished agenda to secure the
country.


Among the main concerns, which former Democratic commissioner Timothy Roemer
said would receive the worst grades:


_The United States is not doing enough to ensure that foreign nations are
upgrading security measures to stop proliferation of nuclear, biological and
chemical materials. Such materials could be used in weapons of mass destruction,
and over 100 research reactors around the world have enough highly enriched
uranium present to make a nuclear device.


We've seen that Osama bin Laden likes to do spectacular things, said Roemer,
a former Indiana congressman. Is a dirty bomb next? ... We're not doing enough,
and we're not doing it urgently enough.


_Police, firefighters, medics and other first responders still lack
interconnected radio systems letting them communicate with each other during
emergencies. Responders from different agencies at the World Trade Center were
unable to coordinate rescues — or receive information that could have saved
their own lives — on 9/11.


Congress last year approved spending nearly $1 billion on interoperable
systems, but King said the matter is a very difficult issue.


_Both the Bush administration and Congress have continued to distribute
security funding to states without aiming most money at high-risk communities.
The Homeland Security Department gave $2.5 billion in grants to states and 50
high-risk cities last year, but some rural states, like Wyoming, received more
money per resident than terror targets like New York.


The House and Senate have been unable this year to agree on a funding formula
that distributes money based solely on risk, threats and vulnerability. King
said the Senate's proposal is still living with a pork-barrel formula. But
Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins said in statement
that her bipartisan plan provides a meaningful baseline of funds to each state
so that the nation as a whole can achieve essential levels of preparedness.


Kean said information-sharing gaps among turf-conscious federal intelligence
agencies continue to exist. He also chastised the Transportation Security
Administration for failing to consolidate multiple databases of passenger
information into a single terror watch list that would make it easier for
airlines to screen for suspicious travelers.


Moreover, expanded governmental powers to seek out terror-related
intelligence have not been adequately balanced by civil liberties protections or
oversight, said former Democratic commissioner Richard Ben-Veniste. He said
President Bush was tardy in naming a civil liberties protection board, whose
funding is anemic and which has not yet been met to get underway.


A bright spot in the government's performance is the creation of a national
intelligence director to help coordinate all government terror information,
Roemer said.


Generally, the grades range all the way from A to F, Kean said.

Still, No parent would be happy with this report card, said former Democratic
commissioner Jamie Gorelick.

___

On the Net:

9/11 Public Discourse Project:


http://www.9-11pdp.org/


Interesting Speech on Healthcare Reform

Not sure if the embed link below will work.  If not, here's the link to the web page where you can watch it. I'll pose a question immediately below this post.


http://www.breitbart.tv/html/330913.html


 


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and this today on health care reform

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090513/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_health_overhaul

Please note starting at paragraph 8 the parts about how this will be paid for and go from there. Pretty soon I won't be able to afford TO work.
One site to keep an eye on health care reform....

Hi, all.  Here's one site to keep an eye on what your government is doing with health care:


http://www.cprights.org/


I do not want socialized medicine.  In England, if you're over 55 and need dialysis?  Too bad.  You're over the age limit.  Folks, this is a government run program and they have to draw the line somewhere.  Think you'll still be able to get the same meds you're on now?  Don't think they'll say some of them are too expensive? 


I should warn you - this is a conservative web site, so if you really dislike conservatives, this isn't the site for you but it does appear to look like a good site to keep an eye on health care reform and you can sign up to receive updates on health care reform as it happens. 


I don't know about you but right now, our entire country, our people, are losing the war - the war on freedom.  We may lose little battles here and there but if you feel it's important enough, and I do, write your representatives, the president, whoever.  Fight those little battles.  We don't want to look back 4 years from now and say Oh, man, we should have done this or that......  I don't want to log in to the Q one morning to find out the government, as they have already done since O took over, has passed another bill while I was sleeping (some congressman and senators were threatened with Marshall law and a plummeting stock market if they didn't sign certain bills, which they had less than an hour to read) and now my job is gone because we have new healthcare. 


Fight for your jobs!  Our government cannot run Medicare and Medicaid and they're both sucking us dry, meanwhile giving really low reimbursement rates to doctors.  Do you really think they can successfully insure our entire country?  I'll let you judge for yourselves. 


OK. Here's an article on Health Care Reform

Please TAKE NOTICE..... Bold and underlined portions are my emphasis.  Read the whole article link below.


"Obama wants a health care reform bill on his desk by October, but faces opposition from Republicans who oppose creation of a government-run insurance plan to compete with private insurers.


Many of his fellow Democrats are wary of making deep cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, the U.S. health care programs for seniors and poor people, to pay for reforms.....


,,,,About $110 billion of the new cuts would come from reducing scheduled increases in Medicare payments. That would encourage health care providers to increase productivity, White House budget director Peter Orszag told reporters.


Obama also proposed cutting payments to hospitals to treat uninsured patients by $106 billion on the assumption those ranks would decline as health care reforms phase in.


An additional $75 billion would come from "better pricing of Medicare drugs," Orszag said, adding the White House was in talks with stakeholders over the best way to do that.


The remaining $22 billion in proposed cuts would come from smaller reforms, such as adjusting payment rates for physician imaging services and cutting waste, fraud and abuse."


http://money.cnn.com/2009/06/13/news/economy/Obama_health_Care.reut/index.htm?postversion=2009061307


 


Exxon CEO's retirement package and talks of reform..sm


 


Senator rips ex Exxon CEO's retirement package






By Tom Doggett Tue Apr 18, 4:53 PM ET



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Amid record oil prices and soaring gasoline costs, Exxon Mobil's $400 million retirement package to its former CEO is a shameful display of greed that should be reviewed by Congress and investigated by federal regulators, Democratic Sen. Byron Dorgan (news, bio, voting record) said on Tuesday.








Dorgan said he wants Exxon Mobil officials to appear at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing to explain how the corporation justifies giving its former boss, Lee Raymond, such a huge retirement package.


He also said the

Securities and Exchange Commission should investigate the deal that appears to shortchange shareholders.


There can be no more compelling evidence that the price gouging and market manipulation which has produced record oil prices is out of control, and is working to serve the forces of individual greed and corporate gluttony at the painful expense of millions of American consumers, Dorgan said.


Dorgan's criticism of Raymond's financial package came on the same day that U.S. crude oil prices hit a record high of more than $71 a barrel at the New York Mercantile Exchange.


Higher crude oil prices are helping to push of up gasoline costs. The Energy Department reported prices jumped 10 cents over the last week to a national average of $2.78 a gallon, up 55 cents from a year ago.



President George W. Bush said on Tuesday he was concerned about the impact high gasoline prices were having on families and businesses.


Exxon earned the wrath of many lawmakers when it reported more than $36 billion in profits last year as energy prices paid by consumers soared.


Dorgan said he will push to win passage of his legislation that would impose a windfall profits tax on big oil companies and rebate that money to consumers, unless the companies used their earnings to explore for and produce more energy.


I think a sensible public policy would insist that the big oil companies either invest those windfall profits in things that will increase our own domestic energy supplies, or we should return some of that money to consumers, Dorgan said.


Using them to drop $400 million dollars in the pocket of a big oil executive is simply unacceptable, he added.


Exxon Mobil has defended Raymond's retirement package, saying it was pegged to the rise in the company's profit and market capitalization that occurred during his tenure.


Stimulus reverses welfare-to-work reform

"....Before the 1996 welfare reform law, Washington doled out more money every time a new family was added to the welfare rolls. If caseloads fell, states got less money. The system created a strong incentive to boost caseloads.


Reform ended the open-ended welfare “entitlement” and replaced it with a program called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. Instead of linking funding to caseloads, the law replaced that money with block grants and gave states the policy goal of reducing the rolls.


The measure generated tremendous controversy, but it was effective. Caseloads declined by two-thirds. Millions of recipients formerly dependent on government made the transition from welfare to work.


Now we learn that the stimulus bill, signed Tuesday by President Barack Obama, will unravel much of the ’96 legislation.


Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation — who helped write the ’96 law — says the stimulus measure would effectively give states bonuses for boosting caseloads. The new system, he says, is actually worse, because the payoff for increasing caseloads will be much higher than under the old program, Aid to Families with Dependent Children.


In a paper written with Katherine Bradley, Rector said that under the stimulus measure, “the federal government will pay 80 percent of cost for each new family that a state enrolls in welfare.”


The policy goal of moving families to self-sufficiency has been largely replaced by a system that rewards states for increasing dependency...."


More here:


http://www.kansascity.com/273/story/1046780.html


Oh, and Obama had better get on Welfare reform QUICKLY before it is a run-away train, or did the tra
already leave the station. Extension of unemployment benefits, GREAT, because in this economy it takes so much more time to find a worthwhile job. Extension of COBRA is great. But the free ride that many dishonest and lazy Americans have enjoyed for generations should be put to an abrupt END. Sorry, I see it every day. Hire enough trained, educated case workers, get them out in the field investigating these fraudulant claims, and give the truly deserving and huring population the funds they need to get back on track, as they want to, and push the lazy and indigent to get productive for our country.

I also love the money going directly to the SBA (Small Business Administration), so many of us are fed up and would probably do better working with the SBA to secure low-interest, easy term loans, employ ourselves, employ others, get the taxes rolling, and be part of the solution. Okay safely off soap box for now!
Truth is, Bush's Texas tort reform is hurting everyone.
Except, of course, his rich friends. That's so much better, isn't it, than laws which address the issues directly and favor the greatest number of citizens?

Texan tort reform that was W's payback to the wealthy who put him in office in Texas has been a disastrous model, giving doctors less incentive than ever to perform skillfully and leaving thousands of people with no recourse when they are medically victimized because they can't afford any longer to bring a justified lawsuit or can't prove the doctor intended to cause harm (a ridiculous qualifier). Insurance rates have gone UP instead of down for everyone despite the fact that tort reform was sold on the platform of cutting rates due to fewer insurance payouts. And, those who can manage to get a case into court no longer have the right to have a jury hear their case. Activist pro-Republican pro-big-business judges are all they've got in some cases, which means they haven't a fair chance at a favorable outcome.

That's life in crony capital USA!

But oooh, let's pretend it really *is* medical lawsuits that are the villains, and let's boo and hiss at the lawyers who make sloppy doctors and sellers of defective merchandise fear being held accountable for their actions. Isn't that what life in Bushworld is all about? - relieving the very best among us from any civic and legal responsibility for the destruction and death they cause? Let's all cheer for that! Go on sm, cheer some more for losing your right to sue a drunk doctor who kills your child! Cheer for your higher insurance rates! Cheer for your free market enterprise unfettered with quality laws, because you know they're going to be more concerned about the safety of those products they sell you than they are about making more money! Heck yeah, why shouldn't we all love that? We're all morons, we love it when they stick it to us! We can't get enough of that, nosiree!
O.K. friend, I LOVE tax reform for the wealthier bunch, the small fry like us have been shouldering
too much of the burden for many, many years, I love the cut-off for those making over 250K....hey, if we were bringing in that $$$ we would be happy and spreading it around (don't mean the manure,either!). We need stronger immigration reform FOR SURE, it is a touchy subject, especially in states like mine with a large immigrant population, but they just held a huge, large, angry rally on the State House steps becaue they don't want families broken up by sending the illegals back. Sorry, as a grandchild of immigrants who came here, assimmilated, learned, worked hard, payed taxes,and became PROUD AMERICANS, I feel strongly this is the right and only way and our president should enforce this. They are called "illegal" for a reason.

There are too many "Pet Projects" in states where the reps helped fund the Obamaa campaign, and these investments will not have a long term good for the country, we need programs that will directly affet the economy and the Americal worker ASAP. I believe he is forging ahead too quickly and blindly with relations with Syria, a known hot spot for extremists and terrorists, although I believe in the old addage "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer," and I think that is what he is doing with Hillary going to Asia and Southeast Asia and opening talks with Syria and Korea. All in all, I just want to give this honest man a chance to get going on some things, see some of the results and go from there before I open mouth and insert foot!!!
For this you have to wait at least 3 years and 8 months , maybe 7 years and 8 mohths...nm
nm
Her camp just came out and said she
xx
Looks like the McC camp is providing
Nice to see that tonge in cheeck is alive and well in the heartland. It is a welcome relief from all that cleaving gloom and doom negativity. A little humor never hurt anybody, but before long, we will be hearing how O's camp is using it to subvert the population into communist submission.
This is what happens when a political camp
ignorance as they support candidates that do not even have the sense to equip their supporters with enough ammunition to be able to defend their own party's own platform positions. Their white matter is so atrophied from lack of exercise that they are not able to come up with anything except vacuous statements such as these.

They travel in packs and set out on their hunts, in search of the slur, slander, dirt and lies, on a mission to convince themselves and each other of their social superiority and to bolster their delusions of grandeur, couched in their unfounded beliefs that they are the Ones...the pure, true, real Americans and that the opposing candidate and the "theys" that support him are the "Others," the cursed Moslem terrorists, subversive socialists, Anti-American militant camp of racial mongrels, the great unwashed underbelly of the nation, composed of factions of militant tribal warriors whose shared vision is to bring their country down.

Their eyes are glazed over after weeks and weeks of speaking with forked tongues as they get themselves all caught up in the rapture of self-righteous indigation and self assurance. The fervor of their mob mentality is reaching ever such higher proportions, whipped up into frenzies of verbal volleys, the rhetorical equivalent of suicide bombs, which they hurl without abandon across vast stretchs of cyberspace, confident their strikes are surgical and secretly hoping to take down as much collateral damage as possible. They start to mistake their bully pulpit sermons for strength in numbers, all forceful and mighty, these champions of truth and might.

This process is a natural by-product of weeks upon weeks of chanting hate-speech mantra, reinforced by spinmeisters and hammering hatred that issues forth from their fearless leaders at campaign rallies. This causes them to eventually adopt this kind of arrogance that ultimately morphs into some sort suspended, animated, twisted logic that actually allows them to believe that they are calling the faithful to arms, energizing their base, and calling forth armies of fellow true, pure Americans, marching to the polls down the road to nowhere.

Face it, Bradley, your guy is all washed up and your party's going down.
Who else got an email from the O camp?

I got one yesterday. They want help with their health "discussions" on health care.


"Over the coming weeks, thousands of Americans will be leading Health Care Community Discussions -- small local gatherings in which Americans are sharing thoughts and ideas about reforming health care. President-elect Obama and Health and Human Services Secretary-designate Tom Daschle are counting on Americans from every walk of life to help identify what's broken and provide ideas for how to fix it.

You can help shape that reform by leading your own Health Care Community Discussion anytime between now and December 31st. "


Do ya think I should do it? Do ya think I can get them to stop outsourcing? I'm not an O lover as you all know and I get a real kick out of this. How many of you O lovers got this email?


Not quite- 2 years Catholic, 2 years Muslim. NM
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Camp Casey Connections

Still looking for live computer connections to Camp Casey.  So far this is what I have found


If you want to hear a live broadcast of what is going on in Crawford, you can go to this link and listen live:




http://www.bradblog.com/


If you so desire, you can also use this post as a way to post any updates you hear on what is going on in Crawford.


I just sent an E-mail to the Obama camp - SM

I wonder what he will do.  Or will he say one thing while doing another or completely ignore the situation. 


This is a repost, as it belongs on the Politics board.


Moderator


I did NOT imply that his camp started it....
in fact, I said the dailykos started it, and unless his camp blogs there and I don't know it, that is exactly what I meant. What I said is that when he asks his supporters not to continue and they persist, it reflects negatively on his candidacy in some people's minds...and that is all I said. I also said that I believe him and that he was sincere...and that his supporters are ignoring him. However, I have heard others suggest that he is saying that publically but behind the scenes his camp is fanning it. I did not say it, and I do not personally think it, and would not unless it was proven. All I am saying is that some perceive it that way.
Michelle's Boot Camp

http://www.publicallies.org/site/c.liKUL3PNLvF/b.2634379/


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Allies


 


Now McCain camp wants to postpone VP
debate to a later time.  They want to move this one on Friday to that time next week, and do the VP one "at a later date".  Something smells fishy! 
Where did I say McC camp provided this information?
the word "fodder." With Webster at your fingertips, you might try looking it up next time before you leap to unfounded conclusions.
Goes to show that McC camp will not hestitate to lie
for political gain.
The same vote that McC/W camp are trying/tried to suppress?
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McC camp is so desperate they will even pose
Wouldn't be the first pub plant we've encountered. Role playing for the sake of argument will not win any elections. You have zero credibility.
Obama camp outraged...
by the tough questions a conservative reporter asked Joe Biden.  Boycotting the station.  And said, are you ready, that that same reporter gave McCain softball questions.  Well hellooo....welcome to the real world, guys!!  Can you believe it?  Whine, whine.  You asked Joe hard questions about Marxism and Obama facing a crisis during his first 6 months (Joe's own quote) and that is NOT FAIR because you did not ask McCain hard questions.  And what has been the life of McCain and Sarah Palin with all mainstream media?  Hard questions.  Obama and Biden?  Major softball questions.  They got the tables turned on them and squealed like pigs stuck under a gate.   They need to do what they told Sarah Palin to do...GET TOUGH.  Ha!  When given the choice to run with the big dogs or stay on the porch....they are whining on the porch.  UNbelievable!! 
O camp donations not unlawful.
Current campaign finance laws do not require records to be kept on donations less than $200. If records are not required and hence, not kept, then they cannot be produced.

Both campaigns have solicited on-line contributions, some of which have questionable sources in the sense that they are not properly identified or identifiable, including McC contributions documentation that does not reflect geographic origins.

As a matter of fact, O camp donations ARE in compliance with FEC (as are McC's), so no investigation is "warranted." Furthermore, O camp has returned contributions they deem coming from "suspicious" sources.

In terms of the Nigerian donations, no one can stop ATTEMPTS by foreign nationals to contribute to candidates they support. It is not an issue unless they are actually ACCEPTED.




Didn't say that. Just would like to see McCain camp
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I would like to see the Obama camp stand up for Joe's...
civil rights too.
That's the norm with the Obama camp
False ads and sexist ads.

Oh yeah, "class A campaign" - NOT.
That actually does look like an Obama camp leak....(sm)

but for good reason.  Obama wants transparency.  It would work to his favor for it to be known that he urged Bush for quick action.  He's putting pressure on Bush.  I think the point of the exercise is that when these things don't get done in a timely fashion or legislation cannot get passed, it puts the spotlight on the ones who would obstruct it.


If I'm not mistaken, they actually do record oval office meetings.  I think it was originally started to prevent misquotes.  They just don't let them out until years later.


OMG I forgot about boot camp
Your right - torture. I went through 2 months of sleep deprevation, exercising til I thought my body would fall apart, standing in lines for hours and hours while the drill sergeant stood yelling in my face with his bad breath I was a skumbag private, lower than dirt, get down and give me 20, etc, etc., Never mind if I didn't answer a question correctly. Then there was the obstacle course, repelling from an 80 foot tower, having to go into the gas chamber while they had gas going off, take off my gas mask and breath it in, then run outside to throw up. Marching 17 and 25 mile marches in the 112 degree heat, escape and evasion tactics, crawling under a barb wire fence on my stomach in mud pits while fires were being shot over our heads and keeping my weapon above the water (and lets not even mention what happened when people called it their gun and not weapon). Talk about humiliated. Or if we were caught sleeping during classes, etc, etc, etc.

Two months of that - yeah I'd sure call that torture. Am I glad I went through it? yes I am. Would I ever do it again? Heck no.
joan baez at camp casey

Video of Joan Baez at Camp Casey singing Where Have All The Flowers Gone.



Musician Joan Baez
Where Have All the Flowers Gone
08.21.05
QuickTime
DSL | 56K
Windows Media
DSL | 56K
RealMedia
DSL | 56K


Michelle's Boot Camp for Radicals

Michelle's Boot Camps For Radicals


By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Thursday, September 04, 2008 4:20 PM PT


Election ང: Democrats' reintroduction of militant Michelle Obama in Denver was supposed to show her softer side. But it only highlighted a radical part of her resume: Public Allies.





IBD Series: The Audacity Of Socialism





Barack Obama was a founding member of the board of Public Allies in 1992, resigning before his wife became executive director of the Chicago chapter of Public Allies in 1993. Obama plans to use the nonprofit group, which he features on his campaign Web site, as the model for a national service corps. He calls his Orwellian program, "Universal Voluntary Public Service."


Big Brother had nothing on the Obamas. They plan to herd American youth into government-funded reeducation camps where they'll be brainwashed into thinking America is a racist, oppressive place in need of "social change."


The pitch Public Allies makes on its Web site doesn't seem all that radical. It promises to place young adults (18-30) in paid one-year "community leadership" positions with nonprofit or government agencies. They'll also be required to attend weekly training workshops and three retreats.


In exchange, they'll get a monthly stipend of up to $1,800, plus paid health and child care. They also get a post-service education award of $4,725 that can be used to pay off past student loans or fund future education.


But its real mission is to radicalize American youth and use them to bring about "social change" through threats, pressure, tension and confrontation — the tactics used by the father of community organizing, Saul "The Red" Alinsky.


"Our alumni are more than twice as likely as 18-34 year olds to . . . engage in protest activities," Public Allies boasts in a document found with its tax filings. It has already deployed an army of 2,200 community organizers like Obama to agitate for "justice" and "equality" in his hometown of Chicago and other U.S. cities, including Cincinnati, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, New York, Phoenix, Pittsburgh and Washington. "I get to practice being an activist," and get paid for it, gushed Cincinnati recruit Amy Vincent.


Public Allies promotes "diversity and inclusion," a program paper says. More than 70% of its recruits are "people of color." When they're not protesting, they're staffing AIDS clinics, handing out condoms, bailing criminals out of jail and helping illegal aliens and the homeless obtain food stamps and other welfare.


Public Allies brags that more than 80% of graduates have continued working in nonprofit or government jobs. It's training the "next generation of nonprofit leaders" — future "social entrepreneurs."


The Obamas discourage work in the private sector. "Don't go into corporate America," Michelle has exhorted youth. "Work for the community. Be social workers." Shun the "money culture," Barack added. "Individual salvation depends on collective salvation."


"If you commit to serving your community," he pledged in his Denver acceptance speech, "we will make sure you can afford a college education." So, go through government to go to college, and then go back into government.


Many of today's youth find the pitch attractive. "I may spend the rest of my life trying to create social movement," said Brian Coovert of the Cincinnati chapter. "There is always going to be work to do. Until we have a perfect country, I'll have a job."


Not all the recruits appreciate the PC indoctrination. "It was too touchy-feely," said Nelly Nieblas, 29, of the 2005 Los Angeles class. "It's a lot of talk about race, a lot of talk about sexism, a lot of talk about homophobia, talk about -isms and phobias."


One of those -isms is "heterosexism," which a Public Allies training seminar in Chicago describes as a negative byproduct of "capitalism, white supremacy, patriarchy and male-dominated privilege."


The government now funds about half of Public Allies' expenses through Clinton's AmeriCorps. Obama wants to fully fund it and expand it into a national program that some see costing $500 billion. "We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded" as the military, he said.


The gall of it: The Obamas want to create a boot camp for radicals who hate the military — and stick American taxpayers with the bill.



Incoherence must be contagious in the McCain camp.
Isn't that interesting? Just how rested would you be after 3 weeks staight of 2 or 3 plane trips a day across the country and back again during a heated primary season? Being a nonsmoker is not a qualification for the presidency. Are you seriously trying to get political traction by reminding us how Obama lost his mom to ovarian cancer in her early 50's? Just how desperate are you guys anyway? You've been watching too much Hannity. By the way, how's that economic plan coming along out of the McCain camp these days? Mum's the word, it seems. The polls tell us just how well that is working for ya.
OK, so the latest message out of the McCain camp
We recognize it by its underlying agenda of twisting a child's story into an Obama smear.
Incoherence is a contagious disease in McC camp
su
Why should he dignify McC camp culture war slurs
He's no different than any other dem....off to greener pastures in search of triple digit IQs.
McC camp speaking in forked tongues and
McCain has been the chairman of the International Republican Institute (IRI) since 1993. Rashid Khalidi, the Palestinian activist in question, helped found the Center for Palestinian Research and Study (CPRS). You see, his day job is that of highly respected educator. He served on the board of trustees there until 1999. The IRI funded the CPRS in 1998 and 1999 to the tune of $838,873. Oh my!

To make matters worse, McCain is now raising a ruckus with the LA Times, who is refusing to violate confidentiality of a source and "hand over" a video of Obama and the suspicious Palestinian activist/educator/trustee of the CPRS which McC's IRI funded. Should we be worried that McC cannot keep his "activists" straight, can't remember funding a suspicious Palestinian educator or the just the double standard 2-ton elephant in the room?
Relax. I was referring to the McCain camp.
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