Sep 27 2008
Thank you for this, Mr. Seitzman. World events have highlighted to me how much we need to have a genuine statesman at the helm – one who embodies compassion, responsibility, accountability, reflection, and action.
God bless America, and may we elect Barack/Biden 2008.
QT
More on Presidential Debates
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
Sep 26 2008
So far, few sparks. Lots of posturing. If you’ve been following politics all along, you know these positions by heart – and you listen to see if you learn something new and convincing from one side or another. I have not, but it clear to me that the other side has not either. At best, so far, this is a draw. Even the little digs are not really going where they could go – and are essentially dogwhistles to their own base.
The independents have already formed opinions on these subjects, I’m nearly certain, and the candidates are not moving the dial any. The referendum, therefore, will come down on this (barring any major movement in the debate):
1. Who’s character do you trust?
2. Race and Age
3. Vice Presidents
I think Obama is in good position – but Biden has to play clean up well, and Obama needs to get an edge in round 2.
QT
Sep 23 2008
Obama’s appearance has very little to do with “Arab presence in East Africa.” Obama is half WHITE. His father doesn’t look anything like an Arab, which Mayhill Fowler darned well knows.
And I say this with all due respect to Arab people who don’t deserve to be harassed by virtue of being Arab. But in this election, when this lie is going around about Obama’s heritage, I’m terribly disappointed in her for playing into it.
Sep 21 2008
Crossposted from MyBO
Government buy-out is likely to tie the hands of the next president:
http://meganmcardle.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/09/watch_the_budget.php
And in the meantime, we are about to hand a blank check over to Hank Paulson, with 9once again) no oversight!
http://thepoliticalcarnival.blogspot.com/2008/09/paulsons-blank-check.html
We need to write to our senators, and we need to get Sen. Obama’s attention on this. We need more oversight if taxpayer money is being spent. We need a way to begin recouping this expenditure – that needs to be built into the plan, because our government has to serve US, not these financial houses that reamed-over the American people!
Read the legislation. Write to your congressional representative or senator or both! And write to Senator Obama.
Hurry people! This is a fierce-urgency-of-NOW kind of thing!
QT
PS, Vince at MyBarackObama.com posts this link:
A Bad Bank Rescue
By Sebastian Mallaby
Sunday, September 21, 2008; Page B07With truly extraordinary speed, opinion has swung behind the radical idea that the government should commit hundreds of billions in taxpayer money to purchasing dud loans from banks that aren’t actually insolvent. As recently as a week ago, no public official had even mentioned this option. Now the Treasury, the Fed and congressional leaders are promising its enactment within days. The scheme has gone from invisibility to inevitability in the blink of an eye. This is extremely dangerous.
The plan is being marketed under false pretenses. Supporters have invoked the shining success of the Resolution Trust Corporation as justification and precedent. But the RTC, which was created in 1989 to clean up the wreckage of the savings-and-loan crisis, bears little resemblance to what is being contemplated now. The RTC collected and eventually sold off loans made by thrifts that had gone bust. The administration proposes to buy up bad loans before the lenders go bust. This difference raises several questions.
Sep 20 2008
The Obama Project has taken up most of my time, and has a small readership (yay!), but it is in fact a temporary project of the WindonWater.net web site, which has been languishing sadly in obscurity…
Anyway – here is my recent post from The Queen’s Realm, which is the forum for the site: http://www.windonwater.net/index.php/topic,145.0.html
There I will be discussing Science Debate 2008 – candidate write in answers to questions relating to science, technology, energy, etc.
QT
Sep 18 2008
Well. There you have it. In a recent townhall, Sarah Palin states that she will be ready to lead by January 20th.
“Gov. Palin, there has been quite a bit of discussion about your perceived lack of foreign policy experience, and I want to give you your chance,” the questioner said. “If you could please respond to that criticism and give us specific skills that you think you have to bring to the White House to rebut that or mitigate that concern.”
Palin replied at first by saying that opponents look for things to criticize her about because she is a “Washington outsider.” As for her credentials, she did not offer anything specific but asserted she will be prepared for the job by the time she assumes it — suggesting, perhaps, that the four months between now and then will add to her knowledge.
“As for foreign policy, you know I think that I am prepared and I know that on Jan. 20, if we are so blessed as to be sworn into office as your president and vice president, certainly we’ll be ready. I’ll be ready. I have that confidence. I have that readiness.”
Hmm. So – no information about how prepared she is today, but if she gets elected, she’ll be ready by January 20. Isn’t the office of the Vice Presidency a little too important for us to be hoping she’s right in that assessment? And – how do we verify? Is there some sort of vice presidential aptitude test – sort of like a GED exam that can be taken to be certain that the requisite graduation requirements are met after the 4 month class?
You know – in watching this process – I feel very sorry for Sarah Palin. I think one day she can be a really excellent national politician. I think having to pretend to be one now is hurting her overall image. I hope she doesn’t get hurt too badly because despite what some view as her extreme opinions (I agree that no abortion in cases of rape and incest is extreme), I think she’s got the right kind of outlook that can bring about a sensible anti-abortion* environment. I think that once we secure the Supreme Court bench to prevent ideological imbalance, we can afford a genuinely pro-life president (instead of the caricatures we’ve seen exploit the religious right), and I think Sarah Palin is very genuine in her views, and as someone who ACTUALLY lives that way, has a sense of the needs of women pregnant under difficult circumstances. That makes a world of difference – and one day perhaps she’ll make the case that she should be president.
That day, however, isn’t today. She shouldn’t be president, and by extension, shouldn’t be vice-president. She’s not prepared for the role, and her bluster is discomforting, rather than the reverse.
*Disclaimer: I’m chosing the words “anti-abortion” as opposed to the false dichotomy of pro-life and pro-choice. Who isn’t pro-life? Who is pro-abortion? And – is it a honest-to-God fact that every instance of abortion is really a choice? I think reasonable minds can come to a different place on this issue – especially if we stop talking about it in ways that define us as against each other. Most of us don’t think animals have the same rights as humans – but we also agree that we don’t have a right to be cruel to animals. that’s not a choice we get to exercise. There’s a reasonable place where we all can meet – I’d like to see us get there.
QT
Sep 17 2008
Amen! Please stand up and take a bow, Bob Cesca!
Of course the entire discourse just made me cry, and makes me feel terribly intimidated to even live in this country – I sometimes forget just how ubiquitous this stuff is and am therefore sometimes shocked by the feral viciousness I am sometimes confronted with.
God bless the USA indeed. I am hopeful that God does bless us to emerge victorious from this long night of cynicism, economic dispair, and racism.
Sep 14 2008
http://chartjunk.karmanaut.com/taxplans/
(cc) US Tax Plans – Redrawing by Viveka Weiley is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Australia License.
Sep 14 2008
Some would wonder why I care more about racism than sexism. The answer is pretty straightforward. Women, while kept back from equal rights, and frequently subject to abuse, both physical and emotional, are nevertheless less likely in our culture to be killed because of sexism. People are more likely to be misogynist and STILL hire the best woman for the job. Conversely, black people are more likely to NOT be hired, and to be jailed and killed for being black. Women, though oppressed, were not slaves in this culture – unless they were black.
So yes – I’m sensitive to sexism, but I’m far more sensitive to racism. America is on the verge of its greatest moment – but the forces of darkness are rising up. For instance, look here, and here.
More soon, but this marks a turning point for me…
QT
