ARGGGGGHHHHH!!! Ye be a skalliwag, McCain! Testing my pirate-talking-ability…

I have read my fair share of ranting asking how Obama will pay for his expansive budget plan. In particular the following parts are controversial to the Anti-Obama voters:

• A $65 billion-a-year health plan
• $15 billion in green energy spending
• $85 billion in tax cuts and credits
• A $25 billion-a-year increase in foreign aid
• $18 billion a year in education spending
• $3.5 billion for a national service plan

Oh the avaricious right would have you believe Obama is planning on spending, spending, spending…with no means to pay for it. This is a silly accusation. We, lefties, think in terms of people but we are not stupid. Some prefer numbers, even if they distort information to get them. But for the sake of prosperity, let’s discuss Obama’s economic plan on terms they can comprehend, figures. I was digging around in the federal budget for 2008 today, searching through hidden drawers, finding little tidbits to see what numbers I could use that would be fair and accurate. I found some.

In 2008, Bush requested a sum of $141,700,000,000¹ (yes, folks BILLIONs) in appropriated (discretionary) funds to be allocated for Department of Defense emergency operations in the Global War on Terror. This is not base funding, it is not the mandatory funding allocated for defense…it is in addition to it, it is extra emergency SUPPLEMENTAL funding allocated for the “War on Terror”. This money is even above and beyond the $70,000,000,000 ($70.0 BILLION) allocated in the 2007 Defense Appropriations Act for such purposes. This is $388,219,178.10 per day in ADDITIONAL emergency supplemental funds (back-up to the back-up emergency funds) allocated to a war that should have never been started and will not continue, if Obama becomes President.

This is a good number to begin with, don’t you think? It is not the regular budget. It is not the defense budget (which can be argued and skewed in every direction). This is simply surplus-surplus funds (not as in extra money we have to spend frivolously but simply extra money allocated frivolously) sent over to this illegitimate war, a war Obama never wanted us to get into and fully intends on pulling us out of as soon as safely possible, upon election. A war McCain supported from the beginning and has no solid intention or concrete plan on ending.

That money alone would pay for the majority of “spending” Obama has planned. Let’s look at the remaining amount. $211.5 Billion dollars was the original amount of the “offensive suggestions”, right? Subtract the $141.7 billion (just one year’s supplemental back-up emergency funding for the war that will end under Obama) and this leaves a balance of $69.8 billion.

Let’s not forget Obama’s budget will provide a comprehensive health care plan for everyone, green energy spending (READ: LEGITIMATE MEANS TO END DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN OIL AND GET US OUT OF THE ENERGY CRISIS WE ARE IN), $85 billion in tax cuts and credits for 95% of American households (immediate and long-term financial relief), more foreign aid (which will help improve foreign relations, which…um, will, uh, help reinforce the allies we have not alienated in the past eight years through our excessive use of military might, ignoring our own international agreements and throwing diplomacy out the proverbial window), a better educational system (paying teachers more, focusing on math and science to ensure our future generation is competitive in the technology of tomorrow, helping families afford college etc.) and expands our national service plan (helping people to work within their own communities to improve their own lives and the lives of others, to improve the community and the country as a whole).

However, I digress, back to the $69.8 billion dollars that needs a home in the budget.

Let’s eliminate the tax cuts for the richest 10% of Americans (who hold over 70% of the nation’s wealth)² GASP! Or we can simply deny the additional $70 billion Bush requested for the 2009 version of the $70 billion extra supplemental funds asked for this year, to fund his War on Terror. Looks like the rich don’t even have to help. Simply ending the excessive spending on a war that Obama does not support will pay for all of his proposed spending with some left over ($200,000!).

But, now that I have done all this research, let’s play with the numbers a little, shall we?.

Pretend for a moment, not that we steal from the rich, but that we make them pay the taxes they should already be paying. After all, our taxing system is progressive. It was introduced as progressive, accepted as such and should remain as such. Translation: each person pays as per their income. The rich will pay more than the poor, but such is the progressive tax system in the United States.

The rich can afford more, so they should pay more…period.

If Richie Rich earns a billion dollars, he should have to pay the appropriate amount of taxes. Lisa Lackey is underemployed, she still pays her fair share even if she can’t afford them. Joe Average, gets a promotion and doesn’t see it all reflected on his next paycheck but he continues to pay his taxes as well. Lisa and Joe continue working hard to get promotions, hoping someday they can retire without financial worries. And both still pay their fair share year after year because neither can afford the same accountant who ensures Richie Rich receives fat and unnecessary tax-breaks.

Let’s for fun (hypothetically) take away the $116.6 billion in tax cuts for the richest 10% in FY 2009 and see what sort of fun we can have…

We could provide:³
34,365,274 People with Health Care for One Year OR
120,711,046 Homes with Renewable Electricity for One Year OR
2,518,359 Public Safety Officers for One year OR
1,999,571 Music and Arts Teachers for One Year OR
18,027,211 Scholarships for University Students for One Year OR
907,020 Affordable Housing Units OR
51,391,674 Children with Health Care for One Year OR
16,001,098 Head Start Places for Children for One Year OR
1,915,400 Elementary School Teachers for One Year OR
1,684,667 Port Container Inspectors for One year

Healthy, smart fun for everyone! Why don’t we discuss the realistic trickle down effects of this kind of spending rather than the non-existent theoretical trickle-down effects of laissez-faire type of economy the right-wing philistines prefer? Those who consistently bark about the unnecessary governmental spending by the Liberals, conveniently forget or justify their own spending (unnecessary wars, big corporations, corporate welfare due to excessive to excessive de-regulations, tax cuts for the rich…etc.)

Make no mistake about it, we are not talking about our everyday budgets here. We are talking about the country’s budget. Numbers look larger, more frightening, perhaps even irritating when we, the citizens, are struggling to make ends meet but Obama’s numbers are no bigger than McCain’s or any other President in the past for that matter. And Obama does have a plan on how to come up with the money. Numbers, such as these, seem astronomical to the average American but every national budget plan is more or less the allocation of our tax dollars to different priorities. So, ask yourself, do you want to take care of the economy with the same policies that got us here? Or do you want to try a sensible way?

1. http://www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy08/pdf/budget/defense.pdf [↩]
2. http://solutions.powersimsolutions.com/Ranking/HistoricalPerspective.aspx [↩]
3. http://www.nationalpriorities.org/tradeoffs?location_type=1&state=888&program=276&tradeoff_item_item=999&submit_tradeoffs=Get+Trade+Off [↩]

Our Presidents (and presidential candidates) are struggling. Time after time we see them battle with the names of the other foreign leaders. It is heart-wrenching to watch the dreaded confusion engulf their faces when they are forced to locate another country on the map. They don’t even know the fundamentals of the economy. The poor things think negotiation tools include nuclear weapon and AK47′s. We must stop the madness. We must not let them fall through the international cracks, or to create even more of them. This is everyone’s future we are talking about. WE must ensure our Presidents (and the candidates running for Presidency) are educated properly to meet the growing needs of the White House. It is IMPORTANT TO ACT NOW! We must not leave any President behind!

Please help me to ensure this ACT is signed by Congress before it is too late.

Note: I thought I was so clever coming up with this idea inspired by McCain not knowing where Spain is located or who the Prime Minister of Spain is exactly. However, after preparing it and posting it…graphic and all, I did a google search and well, I was not the only one to come up with this clever idea. Kudos to the great comedians of the world…and let’s say thanks but no thanks to the road that led us here.

Other links for the NO PRESIDENT LEFT BEHIND ACT:

AVANT NEWS
HUFFINGTON POST
CAFE PRESS

Is foreign policy John McCain’s strong suit?

In an interview with Radio Caracol Miami John McCain demonstrated his lack of even the most basic knowledge of the leaders of the world, not even knowingeven a leader of a country that is a member of NATO and our ally.

He stumbled over some pre-planned script in his head that was irrelevant to the question she was asking. She simply wanted to know if McCain is elected President of the US, if he will meet with Prime Minister Zapatero, of Spain. Finally, after listening to him ramble on and on about Mexico and Latin America she had to cut to the chase because it was clear he simply wasn’t getting who Zapatero was at this point in the interview:

“Ok, what about you? I am talking about the President of Spain…ok are you willing to meet with him if you are elected President?”

There are three possibilities for his use of doublespeak in this interview:

1. He confused Spain’s Prime Minister Zapatero with a Zapatista, an armed revolutionary group based in Chiapas, Mexico,
2. He thinks Spain is really south of our border and part of Latin America,
3. He simply doesn’t know who the Prime Minister of Spain is and isn’t willing to admit not knowing.

Not one of these options demonstrate a solid foundation for “good” foreign policy. It sounds eerily reminiscent of Bush to me. How is this basic foreign knowledge change?

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The only policy change McCain has demonstrated during this election is his willingness to forego his own honesty, transparency and straight talk policies. Change is not John McCain’s strong suit (please see the following footnote for some examples reinforcing this statement)¹. Does anyone, besides me, remember that this was NOT even his campaign slogan before the Republican National Convention? That he basically stole Obama’s campaign slogan?

McCain voted with Bush policies over 90% of the time.² So, why should we believe he will do anything differently if he is elected? We already know he lies.

McCain mocked Obama for wanting change, until the polls indicated Obama was ahead. In response, he chose Sarah Palin as his running mate. And together they jumped off the Straight Talk Express and hijacked the change bandwagon. Desperate for a few extra voters, he chose an inexperienced, unknown Palin to get some attention. Did he really think picking a woman would somehow shock or enamor people enough to believe he really wants change despite his own voting record and words indicating otherwise? Did he really think he could sway Hillary supporters simply because Palin was a woman? Did he assume we were vagina voters?

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1. http://www.perrspectives.com/blog/archives/000994.htm [↩]
2. http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/is_it_true_john_mccain_voted_with.html [↩]

Economy is not John McCain’s strong suit. Don’t take my word for it…take his.

“The issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should.¹”

“I know a lot less about economics than I do about military or foreign policy issues.²”

“I don’t know how bad it [the mortgage crisis] is gonna get, and obviously the worse it gets then the more there is a role for government. But I can’t come down yet and give you a specific solution because I don’t claim to be smart enough….I’d love to give you a solution, but I don’t know.³”

“I don’t believe we’re headed into a recession. I believe the fundamentals of this economy are strong, and I believe they will remain strong.⁴”

“I am not an expert on Wall Street, I am not an expert on some of this stuff.⁵”

In an interview on Fox News on April 6, 2008 Chris Wallace asked McCain the following question: “What would you do to help the thousands of Americans who right now are in the process of losing their homes? Or do you feel, as you said in your speech, that’s not the duty of government?”

McCain replied, “Look, Americans are hurting right now. They don’t know if they have to get another job. The challenges are enormous right now. The key to it is not to bail out people who speculated or people who engaged in unsavory practices. The key to it is get the lender and the borrower together. We know how hard that is because of identifying the lender, but there’s ways to do it. Of course there’s a role for government, but it’s not to reward greedy speculators. It is not to reward people who misbehave. And it certainly isn’t a huge expenditure of taxpayers’ dollars which, in the long run, could exacerbate the problems that exist.⁶”

When asked if Americans are better off now (in the beginning of 2008) than they were eight years ago, McCain replied as follows:⁷

“You could argue that Americans overall are better off, because we have had a pretty good prosperous time, with low unemployment and low inflation and a lot of good things have happened. A lot of jobs have been created. But let’s have some straight talk. Things are tough right now. Americans are uncertain about this housing crisis. Americans are uncertain about the economy, as we see the stock market bounce up and down. But I think what we’re trying to do to fix this economy is important. We’ve got to address the subprime housing problem. We need to make the Bush tax cuts permanent, which I voted for twice to do so. I think we need to eliminate the alternate minimum tax…I think we are better off overall if you look at the entire eight-year period, when you look at the millions of jobs that have been created, the improvement in the economy, etc.”

At least he recognized and expressed some economic concerns coming into this year. Maybe he is an optimist? I have my doubts based on the campaign he has been running thus far and his voting record but we will give him the benefit of the doubt until we do a little more research.

Even on the same day we saw a 500 point drop in the market, McCain insisted the fundamentals of our economy were strong. See previous post: McCain not economically fit to be President. I digress, I will address, in detail, the fundamental difference in what is fundamental to the average citizen, how that differs from what is fundamental to John McCain and how his policies clearly demonstrate this, in another post.

I could continue to cite quotes made by John McCain indicating his own inexperience and ignorance with regards to the economy but I will allow you to do some research yourself. Here is an informative link to begin.

Economy is the biggest concern right now.

It is irresponsible and foolish to assume all information presented in commercials is true, even the approved commercials. It is irresponsible to blindly take anyone’s word on it, even mine! This is why I try to provide links, sources, etc. I realize you are tired. I know you are busy. But it is our responsibility as citizens to be informed. Do not take commercials at face value, especially commercials endorsed by either party or anyone else for that matter. I beg you to research the information presented for yourself. This is exactly what I’ve done with this entire election. I have researched the candidates, the issues and even the economy.

I went to McCain’s website and read his economic plan, though much to my dismay it was written in doublespeak.⁸ Luckily, I am a diligent researcher who can and will dig through the hyperbole and fluff to find out what he is really saying.

I will save this discussion for another post.

1. http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2007/12/mccain_its_abou.html [↩]
2. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22867407/page/2/ [↩]
3. http://www.nhelects.com/NHPrimaryVideos.asp?MultiID=77&HTitle=VLTitle [↩]
4. West Palm Beach Town Hall, 1/24/08; “Face the Nation,” 2/3/08; Town Hall at Dell in Texas, 2/29/08; “60 Minutes,” 3/9/08, GOP Debate, Myrtle Beach, S.C., 1/10/08 [↩]
5. McCain Town Hall, Concord, NH, 12/17/07 [↩]
6. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,347033,00.html [↩]
7. http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/30/GOPdebate.transcript/ [↩]
8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doublespeak [↩]

Finally! An ad I APPROVE! LOL!

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler did their magic on SNL last night and it is worth watching over and over and over again! Here it is for your viewing pleasure, just one more time.

(For anyone outside of the U.S. I hope this works.)

“Value voters” tend to be the biggest hypocrites. They go on and on about the importance of voting based on family values, abstinence, no abortions…blah, blah, blah…etc. Despite their superior morals, they seem to be plagued by the exact same symptoms of immorality as the rest of us. Their teenage daughters get pregnant and have abortions, even more so than liberals apparently¹. They have drinking and drug problems. They cheat on their spouses² and taxes³. They lie. They steal. Their priests molest children. They have gay sex.⁴⁵⁶⁷⁸⁹ None of this seems to distract them from asserting their superior morality and insisting people vote accordingly.

Quickly blaming the lefties for our immorality, curiously they are being ever-so-forgiving of Sarah Palin’s teenage daughter who is pregnant¹⁰. Rumors are even circulating questioning whether Palin’s youngest child is actually her child and not her 17 year old’s first child. Now, in and of itself, this is not something I would normally even comment upon, save the sadness you feel whenever someone too young gets pregnant. However, this is irony in the third degree given the “value” politics Mrs. Palin espouses and moreover, the hypocrisy of the “value voters” who are jumping to her defense.

Why is it when a liberal’s teenager gets pregnant the focus becomes the immoral way of life they have chosen, the evil of their ways? Lack of supervision, poor parenting, bad values, immorality, sexy clothes, access to inappropriate media are all the causes given by these value experts. Yet, when one of their own gets pregnant, they are quick to say, “Do not judge,” while foolishly rushing the kids to the altar to do what is right in their eyes. Teenage marriage doesn’t right teenage pregnancy. Nor does it reconcile the contradictory morals and unrealistic standards to which you expect the world to live.

It is irony that the highest abortion rates are found in the very “conservative” states that opposes abortion the most.¹¹

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1. http://www.publicchristian.com/index.php?p=734 [↩]
2. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1024927/The-wife-John-McCain-callously-left-behind.html [↩]
3. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/15/business/15tax.html?_r=1&oref=slogin [↩]
4. http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/10/03/foley.scandal/index.html [↩]
5. http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/11/03/haggard.allegations/index.html [↩]
6. http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/08/28/craig.arrest/ [↩]
7. http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/07/12/mccain.campaign/index.html [↩]
8. http://www.news-tribune.net/breakingnews/local_story_219210228.html [↩]
9. http://www.badmouth.net/top-five-republican-gay-sex-scandals/ [↩]
10. http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/01/palin.daughter/index.html [↩]
11. http://www.publicchristian.com/index.php?p=734 [↩]