"A centerpiece of Obama's health proposal would be a new government health insurance plan that would compete with private insurers. The administration says the public plan would help cut costs by introducing competition, and cover the uninsured. Republicans and insurers oppose a government plan, arguing that it would undermine the private healthcare market. By focusing on delivering more efficient care, Obama is weighing in on one of the least controversial aspects of his healthcare proposal rather than the much more heated topic of whether to establish a new public insurance plan."
Republicans and insurers oppose a government plan, arguing that it would undermine the private healthcare market.
By focusing on delivering more efficient care, Obama is weighing in on one of the least controversial aspects of his healthcare proposal rather than the much more heated topic of whether to establish a new public insurance plan."
While you're wondering why anybody would oppose a plan that would both cut costs and cover the uninsured, do ask your friends that same question. Health Care is a 2 trillion dollar per year industry. Maybe somebody's making some serious green? Point friends at the article, perhaps.It's at: http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE54A01P20090511?sp=true
The fight's not over.
The way for the U.S. to secure a leadership role in the 21st century is by leading on all the issues that confront the world, to exhibit thoughtful strength and realistic ideas. It will require more than military strength, diplomacy, reversing the current economic chaos, and strong alliances. Our place in the world, our rights, and our freedom depend on leading based on principles we don't just preach, but practice.
In the case of our reckless, decades-long descent into a position where we are addicted to fossil fuels mostly coming from abroad, the time for new ideas is past due. Clean new energy sources aren't just good for our children and the environment, they're a key to our national security. Now more than ever our leaders must partner with innovative businesses and entrepreneurs to make the United States more self-reliant again. The President and the Congress must resist the insidious temptation to do nothing about energy while dealing with the various other domestic and global challenges.
Of course, no matter if the business is banking or big oil, well-funded special interests don't want to give up the loopholes they've lobbied for over the years. They work to preserve their special deals with Congress, while lobbying the media into misleading Americans with catch phrases such as "Cap & tax" to keep us from thinking about what's at stake.
While most Americans support a cap on carbon pollution there's now a flood of "talking points" and sound-bites circulating about the supposed short-comings and dangers of any new plan. The real threat of cap-and-trade is that it doesn't favor the mega-corporations, and the ultra-rich energy barons. Changing to new and cleaner energy sources changes where the money goes - more of it stays in the U.S., in smaller, newer companies; it creates jobs that we desperately need to recover from the fiasco of letting the financial giants "self-regulate."
"It looks like green jobs are real. Recently, two solar energy companies — Hemlock Semiconductor Corp. and Wacker Chemie AG — announced billion-dollar investment plans to build plants near Clarksville and Chattanooga." U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN)
U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN)
In fact, a cap and trade system simply uses pure capitalism to reward efficient, innovative businesses while it effectively penalizes out-moded industries. Used world-wide it plays to American strengths, conveying tremendous economic advantage to industries and countries ready to innovate, and results in domestic job growth. Only somebody making lots of money off the existing rules could possibly deny the benefits of a global cap and trade system.
Many members of Congress benefit from huge campaign donations from energy companies. They'd be happy if we'd all stop paying such close attention to how energy policy intertwines with national security. They smile and want you to "trust" them to get it right, and the longer they've been there the more they want you to just trust, and not verify, that they're working for you. Uh huh.
President Obama has issued an executive order establishing the White House Office of Health Reform intended to oversee "the federal government's comprehensive effort to improve access to health care, the quality of such care, and the sustainability of the health care system." Governor Howard Dean, M.D., and Democracy for America have launched the "Healthcare for All" campaign at StandwithDrDean.com, and over a quarter of a million people have enthusiastically joined in, spreading the word.
Both initiatives will help spur on reform in the health care insurance industry, and not a moment to soon. According to a recent article from Maggie Fox of Reuters,
"U.S. government economists predict that public and private health spending will hit $2.5 trillion this year, taking up a 17.6 percent share of gross domestic product. Yet studies suggest Americans get poorer care than people in other industrialized countries that have national healthcare plans, and 46 million Americans have no health insurance at all."
While Howard Dean is a visible and credible public face, the effort requires your commitment, too. Change doesn't come about in Washington unless politicians know their constituents are paying attention to an issue. You've got to keep writing to them, and to newspapers, and inform your friends, neighbors, and co-workers about the shabby state of affairs caused by insurance company profiteers siphoning off lavish pay and bonuses that drive up all our costs but add no value to the health care industry.
Even if you're not the sort who writes letters to the editor, you can help financially to provide the backing Governor Dean needs to spread the message.
1 in 6 Americans are uninsured and millions more are under-insured, yet lobbyists try to convince Congress and the media that health insurance companies are the best way to provide affordable health care to America. If the President's plan is changed to exclude an option similar to Medicare, health care in this country remains mired in the hands of insurance profiteers.
A public, single-payer option is the way to guarantee health care for all Americans. Insurance companies are in it for profit - that's what business does. Our big mistake thus far has been expecting them to behave altruistically. Where is their motive? It's on the bottom line.
New legislation without a new option is no longer a viable choice. Let people keep the for-profit coverage if they already have it, but a public health care option is overdue. Of course, competition should force private industry to provide better service at lower costs, but it still doesn't force them to help the uninsured.
"In 2009, Congress must take up and act on meaningful health reform legislation that achieves coverage for every American while also addressing the underlying problems in our health system. The urgency of this task has become undeniable."~Senator Max Baucus, (D-MT)Chairman, Senate Finance Committee12 November 2008
"In 2009, Congress must take up and act on meaningful health reform legislation that achieves coverage for every American while also addressing the underlying problems in our health system. The urgency of this task has become undeniable."
To date, the private, for-profit payment systems have enriched a few large corporations while leaving millions of average Americans one illness or injury away from medical bankruptcy. The system is broken; it's a mass of red-tape, with medical decisions in the hands of bureaucrats instead of doctors. We spend more per capita on health care than any other nation, but our results leave a lot to be desired.
“The reason we spend more and get less than the rest of the world is because we have a patchwork system of for-profit payers. Private insurers necessarily waste health dollars on things that have nothing to do with care: overhead, underwriting, billing, sales and marketing departments as well as huge profits and exorbitant executive pay. Doctors and hospitals must maintain costly administrative staffs to deal with the bureaucracy. Combined, this needless administration consumes one-third (31 percent) of Americans’ health dollars.“
We need to re-define success. Big business is ignoring the problem, looking instead to their separate bottom lines, while non-profit organizations are bringing real innovation and proactive thinking to bear. We need insurance profiteers out of the health care industry - now. They drive costs up, because they're middle-men making a profit. What's right for their business is wrong for providing cost-effective health care to Americans. Let's pass the President's plan and move on to tackle the other thorny issues of our time: education and the economy.
The DJIA crept above 8000, there were slight up-ticks in consumer spending and housing sales reported, and suddenly we're supposed to believe the economy has bottomed out? The people I talk to are still feeling mighty insecure about their jobs, because losing your job threatens your health care and your retirement savings at a time when we know the job market is still very, very tight.
While the President is right to focus on the engines that create jobs in the U.S., such as small businesses and the schools that prepare us for those jobs, IBM has recently announced layoffs in the U.S. as they continue moving even more jobs out of the country. At IBM, business success is all about their bottom line - they're moving jobs to countries where workers earn less and have fewer benefits. Not quite what the President is working for, and certainly not what the U.S. workforce deserves.
Ms. Dawn Teo has written an OpEd at Huffington Post, "New Economic Reports Suggest Middle Class May Have To Wait For Economic Recovery" loaded with facts and figures, and I respect Dawn for her tenacious research. It's a dose of cold reality amid the sudden clamor of voices saying confidently, "it's getting better!" Did they see those unemployment numbers? Did they forget already that productivity declined in the non-farm business and manufacturing sectors in fourth-quarter 2008?
The impact of the financial deregulation orgy is not behind us yet. So trying to goad us into optimism based on a few isolated numbers, cherry-picked for their "improvement," isn't a story I'm ready to buy just yet. Not while mega corporations like IBM can still scoff and do layoffs with impunity.
Despite the setback at the end of 2008, productivity has roughly doubled in the U.S. in the last several decades, yet the benefits have flowed to the super rich, while their companies and strategies and "financial products" have abused those of us who dared to believe in terms like "privatized retirement accounts." Returning to preeminence in manufacturing and agriculture isn't simply about recapturing the American Dream, it's essential to our economy and security. The big business leaders that have touted the virtues of capitalism during those decades will be proven wrong if they fail to recognize that their profit - their success - is a direct result of the creativity and productive labor of the middle class.
When IBM can be as proud of how they treat their workers every day as General Motors was during its glory years,when I see people going back to work at jobs with good salaries and benefits, then I'll be ready to believe the U.S. economy is back on its feet. We've got a lot of work to do.
Single-payer national health insurance isn’t socialized medicine (and if it was you can bet most doctors in the U.S. wouldn’t support it.) Single-payer is simply a streamlined system in which a single agency organizes health-care financing and payments: delivery of medical care remains essentially as it in in the U.S. today - largely private. All that’s lost is the red-tape and restrictions.
Who’s against it then? Insurance companies, because they profit enormously from the current system - even though they add no value. In fact, many people will tell you that insurance companies make it hard to get what they deserve and pay for with the premiums. That’s why it was such a major focus of Obama’s campaign in 2008: he proposed that modern health care should include giving everybody in the U.S. coverage.
To get there we need the freedom to choose between keeping private insurance—for those lucky enough to have any—and opting into a universally available public health insurance option (something like Medicare.) Ultimately, by reducing the number of agencies handling the payments we simplify the task for hospitals and clinics - less of the time and money goes to red tape, and more goes to actual medical services.
Ultimately that also means diminishing the power and profits of the private insurance companies currently siphoning their lavish earnings off your health care payemnts. They make money off the red tape, and by letting non-medical personnel decide what should and should not be prescribed to treat patients, and that’s a large part of what has caused costs to soar while coverage just shrinks.
It’s time for a reality check. Insurance companies profit from the current system, so naturally they’re opposed to changes that hurt their bottom line and their corporate bonuses. What value do they add to the process?
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Minnesota FoodShare's annual March Campaign kicked off on March 1st and your generous donation can play an important role in tackling hunger in our community.
In 2008 the Brian Coyle Food Shelf distributed more than 113,000 pounds of food to residents in the Cedar-Riverside and Seward neighborhoods and has a goal this year of collecting 5,000 pounds/dollars to restock their shelves. Non-perishable goods or financial contributions (checks made payable to Brian Coyle Food Shelf) will be greatly appreciated by the more than 900 families who visit the Brian Coyle Food Shelf each year.
Drop off hours are 2:00pm until 6:00pm on Sunday, March 15th, at the home of DonnaMarie Woodson, who was one of the tireless metro area Obama volunteers. Even one can matters, every little bit helps.
The Coyle Center, named after former vice president of the Minneapolis City Council Brian Coyle, is also proud to host a Farmer's Market once again this summer! Local farmers will sell fresh produce at the Coyle Center on Mondays from 3-7 p.m. beginning July 7th through September 29th, 2008. The Coyle Center is creating choice, change, and connection, one person at a time.
It’s time for politicians to pay attention to what voters said in November 2008. Voters said, government is here to stay, so stop running against government and just start running the government well. We had a failure of leadership in Washington, and Obama won the Presidency because most voters felt it was time for a change. The task of restoring the jobs, the task of rebuilding the American dream, is urgent. Real people are losing their paychecks every day. Real people are losing their health insurance every day, while millionaire bankers send their lobbyists to D.C. to make sure executives of badly run companies don't lose their bonuses, let alone their pensions or their jobs.
Barack Obama and his team in the White House are clear that they work for the people who elected them, because special interests didn't fund his campaign. He's turned his attention to health care plans that regular people can afford, and won't lose when they lose their jobs - the President knows our wages aren’t keeping pace with the price of gas, food, and prescription drugs. He's rolled up his sleeves; Obama's working every day.
This is what happens when you elect a former community organizer. Voters saw that this is a man who leads by example, a man who's more interested in action than repeating memorized talking points in a press conference. Will you be part of the solution? If you're not talking with your neighbors about community needs and priorities, rest assured there are people who have every intention of controlling how the money is spent.
Obama won’t sit idly by and let our country become even more dependent on foreign oil and imported goods while big companies outsource our jobs. He's targeted education, for example, an investment in our children that will renew our economic power and secure their future.
President Obama gets that government is only as good as the people who run it; he and his staff were working even before the inaugural. Voters are hungry for more leaders with the common sense values Obama has shown, with the courage to do what it takes to lead a clean up of the mess in Washington - so that government "for the people" serves us all by keeping teachers and policemen employed despite special interests and partisan posturing that most of us find disingenuous if not downright unpatriotic in a time of crisis.
I'm not asking who anybody voted for, or if they're a member of a political party. My question is: What are you doing while Obama's team works to save the economy, jobs, and our environment?
I'm not asking if you can help, but as a citizen of the USA I'm hoping you will.
We know, frankly, that part of the Republican strategy is to challenge votes, not only to disallow that one individual, but to create conditions that ultimately disenfranchise others, either by intimidation, misinformation, or simply slowing down lines at the polling place. After all some may think, "Why bother if the line is long, right?" They've heard Obama has it well in hand, so how important is that one vote, after all?
And what if it rains, or snows, and the line is slow or stalled with dozens of people waiting in bad weather?
Here's the deal:
Make sure everybody stays in line and votes. Look around, find others like us. You know YOU will vote, so if you see the line is long, let others go in front of you. Make a big deal of it. Make it obvious. "Look, I'm absolutely staying, so if you're in any hurry, go ahead of me."
Futhermore, know your rights as a voter in your state. Don't fall for the tactics that turn away students, don't believe for an instant that a foreclosure means you can't vote in the precinct you live in. Don't leave without casting a ballot, and don't let others, either.
There is a lot at stake, but McCain's amazing confidence has to come from more than faith in voting machines working for his goals... and based on what I've learned, the odds are that in key wards and precincts in battleground states there will be tactics to delay and discourage.
There is no question that ON ELECTION DAY the work includes your time right there at the polls. Take your cell, take your contact info for the campaign, and be the eyes and ears.
Voting is more than a right, for those who believe in the beauty of democracy as a form of government it's an obligation, it's the ultimate act of patriotism to select those who will sit in power in local or federal office. Take the time to learn, and on election day if there's any reason to doubt the fairness of what you see, do two things:
Read more, see excerpts of the Kelliher call...
Founded in 1976, Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI) is dedicated to the simple idea that shelter from rain, wind and sun is a basic human need. Obama Works is a national grassroots organization comprised of volunteers dedicated to implementing Senator Barack Obama's message of positive change through public service. Both organizations rely extensively on unpaid help - people who do the right thing with no expectation of any payback beyond a smile.
This is what COMMUNITY ORGANIZING is all about!
On September 13th, 2008, the Obama Works Twin Cities volunteers partnered with Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity organizers to apply some elbow grease to two projects in Minneapolis. Hearty volunteers under the guidance of Master Gardeners who volunteer with HFHI helped a family beautify their home, and neighborhood.
The family may not be entirely comfortable with operating the lawnmower yet, but they've got curb appeal. They've also got new friends who are invested in their success, new connections to more established residents of their community.
Read the full story at Actualizers, and please pass along this example of how Obama's history inspires acts of community service.
Pictures and video amplify the story of volunteers beautifying a Habitat Home in south Minneapolis on behalf the the new homeowners, immigrants from Somalia who have only been in the house since mid-summer. A cool, rainy September day, but the result was sunshine in the Twin Cities.
The planning was donated. The plants were donated. The labor was donated...Senator Barack Obama's example might not have come to the attention of so many of us if he'd not become a candidate for president -- but community service is ALWAYS a postive action.
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Dear Senator McCain, I watched your acceptance speech, start to finish, and it's raised certain questions in my mind. First and foremost due to a coincidence of timing, I'd like you to explain more about your comment that Obama wants to put health care decisions in the hands of bureaucrats, please. Here's why:
I have a close friend who's struggling with her current insurance provider's decision makers. I thought they were bureaucrats making decisions about her health care - without evidently consulting medical practitioners - so I'd like to tell you her story. I hope together we can figure out who the problematic bureaucrats are, my friend.
She's divorced, so technically a single mom of two children. The youngest is away at college, but she's part of the story, too. You see, during an unplanned VBAC delivery resulting in the delightful arrival of her now college-age daughter she suffered irreversible nerve damage that left her with an incontinence issue.
After struggling with many courses of treatment over the years, her Urologist has settled on a particularly effective medicine. But her insurance provider, Health Partners, decided that was too expensive, and since she was a woman of a certain age they determined that she could just as effectively be treated with another class of less-expensive drug. They didn't consult with her Urologist, mind you, they just decided she was obviously one of those middle-aged women who has bladder/incontinence issues, and that she'd have to change to another medical treatment. After all, they'd paid for 5 years of an effective course of therapy already, so it was time to try something cheaper.
It didn't work. So they proposed another drug. It didn't work. They proposed a third alternative. You guessed it: no success. She got assertive and asked had any urologist - or any medical professional at all - reviewed her case? Well, no, Health Partners admitted, they had just decided that women her age on the one drug should be moved to the other class - a class she had tried previously, but when she pointed that out the bureaucrat -- oh sorry, the curiously powerful non-medical person she was allowed to talk to who was obviously looking only at the bottom line, not the health and/or well-being of the actual person -- they said that she absolutely had to try the drugs that had previously proven ineffective, because they had neither interest in nor any appreciation of the particulars of her diagnosis and prescription by a specialist.
So, Senator, tell me again about how we will lose control of our health care choices in the U.S.A. if Obama starts moving away from the current oh-so-capitalism-friendly system of health care decisions - and how well it's working now? This isn't the story of somebody on medical assistance who lost her coverage, this is actually a practicing, experienced, board-certified, hospital-based R.N. who knows full well how to deal with the clerks and other non-bureaucrats at insurance companies - she does it daily on behalf of her patients.
It was a bright, warm, sunny afternoon in Denver. The line for admission streched for miles as excited attendees including the 6,000 conference delegates made their way into Invesco Field, the home of the Denver Broncos, to watch the last day of the Democratic Nominating Convention, culminating in Obama's acceptance speech.
First, some volunteers:
http://www.youtube.com/v/hpwu24G8q5M
http://www.youtube.com/v/QLPHKIcmkZU
And no story about August 28th would be complete without comments from delegates. Two Minnesota Delegates took the time to comment on the goings-on, Mira Vats-Fournier of Faribault...
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The Democratic Convention is shifting into high gear. On the day that Michelle, Malia, and Sasha landed in Denver, Sunday, August 24th, the Westerm Majority Project made Governor Janet Napolitano available to the media prior to the official start of the Convention in Denver, Colorado on Monday the 25th. Governor Napolitano did a number of brief one-on-one interviews with mainstream media, and then conducted a short, somewhat informal press conference with bloggers who were on hand, too. So a number of us got the chance to ask her questions, snap photos, etc.
When asked about the addition of Senator Biden as Obama's running mate, she was enthusiastic, saying Biden was a "great addition" to the ticket who would compliment Obama's skills and experience. She noted Biden is not a yes-man, and cited this because, "Obama thrives on hearing different voices."
Beyond the economy, which is clearly a key isssue, she thinks the Native American voters will play a significant role in the 2008 election, noting the the Democratic Party has a very strong platform on Tribal Sovereignty and Treaty rights, which are "not just a phrase" to Senator Obama. Obama's campaign has featured extensive communication with Tribal Leaders, who respect his stand on the need to leave the decision about the Cherokee Freedmen to Tribal processes rather than drag them into the U.S. Courts - based on the existing treaty - which has earned Obama some negative feedback from the Congressional Black Caucus.
Napolitano said that the Native American vote could very well prove decisive in key southwestern states, where participation is running high.
When asked about the matchup with McCain, Napolitano pointed out that 25% of those eligible to vote in Arizona this November will never have seen McCain on a ballot, that Arizona is a younger demographic in terms of median age than many people realise, and the new Deomcratic voter registrations are running well ahead of Republicans. She says Obama can win Arizona by doing what she did, carry 60% of the independent voters.
She's looking forward to the Convention, including the speeches from the Clintons, and expects that the voters at large will start to take a renewed interest in the election as the summer draws to a close with the two conventions.
John McCain's seasoned and savvy as politicians go; he's been in Washington D.C. a long time. His team knows that the devil's in the details, so they won't give many on his website or in interviews. For years the people who revealed too much went down in flames because they provided the opposition with specifics to target. Clever campaigning relied in part on taking no stands most of the time, perhaps, but it makes it hard for a voter to make an informed choice.
Fact: we're all in favor of lower taxes and cutting federal spending; we'd all like to have more discretion in spending our personal income on what we personally favor and enjoy.
So at first it seems that the advantage may be in McCain's cagey, vague responses. By avoiding details there's only so much ANYBODY can say about his plans with regard to taxes. He's avoiding talking about Social Security, for instance, because politicizing it with details is bad for campaigning. McCain's answers are from the classic Rove textbook that got George Bush elected - when asked a question, repeat the closest talking point you have. That way there are only a handful of things to quote you on, but nobody can say you didn't reply even if the reply seems as though you may have missed the question.
Arguably more important to your campaign advisors or Karl Rove, even if you're quoted out of context there's nothing there that can be mis-used. It's all constructed in advance with caution, and your handlers have vetted everything you say. A sixth-grader with a good memory could stand in on your interviews and press conferences.
Meanwhile the present budget deficit means that whoever wins the November election faces a gargantuan task leading the country out of the hole. Are the voters really tired of politics as usual, or will the talking points algorithm work again?
Obama's been so up front with his answers that it's shocked people. Pundits assert he's too nuanced, and there's no question that his opposition can grab soundbites out of context and run with them. But this is the era of Snopes, and Google, whether McCain knows it or not. Facts may be hard to come by, but they're out there - and so if voters want the information, it's there to be found.
As with the theory behind free market capitalism, our elections are based on the premise that people have good access to information. Of course, advertising is a part of both, and thus the gap between the theory and what happens in practice has always been exploitable by those in control of the flow of information.
In politics, the old hands rely on mud-slinging and smear-mongering, knowing an apology later never fully erases the impact of the earlier impression about taxes, or national security. etc. Even better, have a surrogate launch the attack, and then denounce it... we've seen that work countless times. Yet Obama has taken a different approach, and November is the acid test.
So the questions loom: Is the infornation superhighway sufficiently integrated into the lives of U.S. voters that we finally face an election where facts matter more than spin and perception? Is this the year that voters fight back against old-school political tactics? Is John McCain's campaign style evidence that he's been in DC too long?
Let me state at the outset that you can't know. I don't just mean that politicians don't always follow through on campaign pledges, either. Among other things, circumstances change, and the economy is neither stable nor predictable, so while we may be able to discuss goals, vision, and philosophy, it's not entirely possible to figure what it will take to turn the economy in a better direction while dealing with the costs we've incurred in Iraq.
But the question is hard to answer for another reason, too. Senator McCain and his team have avoided releasing any specifics. Taylor Griffin, for instance, one of McCain's trusted, close advisors, danced away from details about Social Security, because he says McCain fears the debate might become politicized. Seriously. Here's the most beef I can uncover from Griffin or McCain:
"The history of the Social Security debate has taught that too many specifics, especially during a presidential campaign, has polarized the debate."
In contrast, if you want to know what Obama's plan is you can readily find volumes of information describing his specific positions and detailed proposals on taxes and the economy, or virtually any other issue.
McCain's savvy; he's been in Washington a long time, and his team knows that the devil's in the details, so they won't give any on his website or in interviews. Clever campaigning, perhaps, but it makes it hard for a voter to make an informed choice.
Let's not dither: we're all in favor of lowering taxes and cutting federal spending, we'd all like to have more discretion in spending on what we personally favor and enjoy. Meanwhile the present budget deficit means that whoever wins the November election faces a gargantuan task leading the country out of the hole.
“I will not pretend we can achieve them without cost, or without sacrifice, or without the contribution of almost every American citizen,” Senator Obama said on Monday, “But I will say that these goals are possible, and I will say that achieving them is absolutely necessary if we want to keep America safe and prosperous in the 21st century.” I'll return to Obama's New Energy speech in a bit, but in terms of taxes and the economy? Vision alone won't do it, and both candidates owe us specifics of how they'd manage the budget to overcome the deficit.
The Tax Policy Center, in a report disputed by Douglas Holtz-Eakin (arguably McCain's key economic advisor,) said that McCain's "...proposals on the stump are often far more sweeping than the more measured options outlined by his campaign." That they might as much as double the tax impact of his formal proposals, while Obama's off-the-cuff additions would reduce the impact of his plan (by roughly one-sixth, they say.)
Who can we believe? And who are we?
There's nobody following the campaign who doubts Obama will champion tax policies that will impact those who earn a quarter million dollars or more in a year. Fortunately, while those folks have economic challenges, they need not worry about the price of a gallon of gas or the cost of bread, and their children will probably be able to afford any college they choose. In his "New Energy" speech on Monday (see below) in Lansing Michigan Obama, for instance, repeated his call for a windfall profits tax on oil companies while focusing on eliminating oil imports from the Middle East and Venezuela within 10 years, while McCain's speeches and press releases on energy are somewhat vague - basically, "drill now, and build nuclear plants."
Obama offers New Energy for America So, what of the various rumors circulating in email or reports echoing in the media lately? Let's turn to a non-partisan group that has found fault with both major candidates at times, PolitiFact. Here are some highlights from their clear summary page on taxes. Click the meter(s) if you want the details on each of these "facts."
I wish both of these so-called leaders would exhibit the same sort of moral rectitude and Christian charity they call for from those who follow their exhortations rather than talking about fruitcake and nuts. I wish we all practiced respect in dealing with each other. I wish we weren’t at war in Iraq. I wish there was one reliable, objective source of information reporting. I wish there was a quick solution to hunger and poverty in the world, too.
I don’t, however, wish harm, even in some metaphorical sense, on anyone brave enough to run for public office - even those I disagree with on many issues. I work to insure the one I trust and admire has the best chance to exert leadership.
I speak for myself; I make up my own mind; I allow others to disagree, and hope they do so without behaving disagreeably.
I know the difference between a person and a person’s thoughts and actions.
Jesse Jackson doesn’t speak for me.
Once Senator John McCain and the RNC began circumventing the McCain/Feingold limits via the creation of the “McCain Victory ‘08 Fund” with its $70,000 per individual donations they really left presumptive Democratic nominee Senator Barack Obama with no reason to keep extending his offer to limit campaign spending by accepting public financing. They sprang into faux outrage, of course, ready to accuse him of a flip-flop despite the fact they’d not accepted Obama’s conditional offer. Follow the money, not the spin, and you discover that this has gone virtually unreported. The commercial media outlets have a conflict of interest; reporting on the McCain fund undermines their profits.
