I have been reading through so many questions on Change.gov, and I have noticed so many questions that I look at and wonder...what was this person thinking.
So here are some thoughts I would like to express...
One...so many have asked the question "why do I have to pay for individuals who did things wrong, when I did everything right?" My question is why, because someone is caught up in this economic downturn, do you automatically assume that the person has done something wrong? What about the people who did everything right, but because of others greed, they are in trouble...why do you assume the people asking for help do not fall into that category?
My second thought...Maybe we should all take a step back and understand what a President can truely do. I understand, and partake in the excitement of a President who promises change from the same old politics, but all of the questions requesting things completely out of the control of a President does nothing to advance the cooperation that will be needed between the Government and the communities they serve. I understand that everyone has the right to ask what they choose, but questions that request the President to do things beyond his control are not productive.
Common questions I have come across...and my thoughts on them...Please give me your input...these are meant to get ideas going, so that we can be more proactive in our Government...
I have come across several questions that have had to do with legalizing Marijauna and taxing it the same way we tax cigarettes and alcohol. The common argument is that this would give an instant boost to the economy, both by the tax revenue this would raise and also by the billions of tax dollars saved in law enforcement costs each year. I personally see the argument, whether or not I believe in the cause, as a plausible way to stimulate the economy. What are your thoughts on this?
The next question that I have seen over and over is in regards to U.S. stimulus...Why not give a stimulus check to each American adult...the amount varries based on the questioner, but range from $30,000 each to 1 million each...included in the stimulus package to be voted on later this month. The arguement...That giving that much would allow those who have been hit hard to pay their mortgage payments and get bills caught up, and will then continue to stimulate the economy by spending, saving, or investing the rest. What are your thoughts on this?
The last question I am going to address here is whether or not we should abolish the current tax system and go to a sales tax instead of income tax system? I would like to hear all your ideas on this subjects as I am still trying to weigh the pros and cons of each. What are your thoughts on this?
The great part about this is that you can vote on which questions you want the Obama team to answer...with the questions that get the most votes being the ones they answer...if you have time you should stop by change.gov and answer a few...
Well folks.We did it!Over the next few days, I am going to continue to clean up the resource web site (http://AirlinePilotsForObama.info/) and also store it all on CD so it can be viewed even "off-line" long after the web site is shut down (which is likely to occur within a few weeks).If you are interested in receiving a copy of the CD, please let me know.I doubt I will be able to reproduce enough copies for all requests at no cost, so I am probably going to set it up on a "CD on demand" service that people can use to order a CD directly for immediate burning and fulfillment.Anyway, even if you do not want a CD, I encourage you to take a tour through the site. You may not realize just how much was really there.I think this group and the web site gave supportive airline pilots a place to call home... a place where they could go and feel welcome and make a meaningful contribution.I want to thank Jan Donatelli and Ed Rafacz for welcoming me - an outsider arriving relatively late - to the party and allowing me to help as I could.Cheers,
Captain Mark Hunnibellhttp://AirlinePilotsForObama.info/mark@airlinepilotsforobama.info
CNN reporter last night completly mislead audience by stating Greenspan didn't know what to do with Financial Crisis.
Actually Greenspan basically testified that his Idealogy on Free Market Degulations was fatally flawed. He believed that Banks would self regulate themselves in order to self preserve. He forgot about Greed in his financial model.
Welch, ex chairman of GE said on TV interview that he thought Sunny Days were ahead in last quarter of 09 due to new regulations.
I want to bring this up because of John McCains' thinking about getting rid of the Railway Labor Act and his support for Foreign Ownership of Airlines. Pilots need to be reminded of what their careers and life would be like with a McCain Administration. This banking mess would look like a fender bender compared to what would happen to the Airline Industr.
Also, a McCain staffer said in a TV interview that th U.S. needs to stop all employer paid Health Insurance. He supported this statement by saying GM was a Health Care Insurance Co. that just happened to build cars. These people just hate Sick calls as well.
The press seems determined to mistate Greenspans' testimony or ignore what he said. This is an excerpt from some of what was said from the NY Times:
NY Times Oct 23rd
But on Thursday, almost three years after stepping down as chairman of the Federal Reserve, a humbled Mr. Greenspan admitted that he had put too much faith in the self-correcting power of free markets
“Those of us who have looked to the self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholders’ equity, myself included, are in a state of shocked disbelief,” he told the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
On a day that brought more bad news about rising home foreclosures and slumping employment, Mr. Greenspan refused to accept blame for the crisis but acknowledged that his belief in deregulation had been shaken.
He noted that the immense and largely unregulated business of spreading financial risk widely, through the use of exotic financial instruments called derivatives, had gotten out of control and had added to the havoc of today’s crisis. As far back as 1994, Mr. Greenspan staunchly and successfully opposed tougher regulation on derivatives.
The Federal Reserve had broad authority to prohibit deceptive lending practices under a 1994 law called the Home Owner Equity Protection Act . But it took little action during the long housing boom, and fewer than 1 percent of all mortgages were subjected to restrictions under that law.
Despite his chagrin over the mortgage mess, the former Fed chairman proposed only one specific regulation: that companies selling mortgage-backed securities be required to hold a significant number themselves.
http://AirlinePilotsForObama.info/ButtonsPins.htmlWe have produced a limited run of Airline Pilots for Obama buttons and an extremely limited run of Airline Pilots for Obama pins (shown on the page above). We will be mailing these buttons and pins out to known donors to the campaign. The pins will be mailed to the larger donors ($101+), while supplies last (which will probably be exhausted by the time you read this), but we will mail pins to anyone making donations of $25 or more as long as supplies last. Unfortunately, we do not have much time left, so here's the deal. (1) Make a donation using the fundraising thermometer link on site or this link: https://donate.barackobama.com/page/contribute/pf?outreach_page_id=32908 (2) Include your NAME and U.S. MAILING ADDRESS in the last block of the donation form (where it says "Send a note to the person whose page you're giving to. They'll receive an email with your text.") (3) After you complete your donation, you will receive an e-mail confirming it from the Obama campaign. As a backup to including your mailing address in the donation comments box as described in (2) above, please forward the donation receipt e-mail to:buttons@airlinepilotsforobama.infoNOTE: We are going to make our best efforts to review and send buttons (and a pin, as applicable) to those who made previous donations. However, we know that many airline pilots made donations to the campaign before joining the group or used the general donations system that did not result in the donations being "credited" to Airline Pilots for Obama. If you're in that category, or just want to make sure we know about your previous donations, and you have your e-mail "receipt" from the campaign regarding prior donations, please forward the receipt to buttons@airlinepilotsforobama.info, along with your name and mailing address.
We will mail the gear as soon as we can... while supplies last... so don't wait do donate!
Joe the Plumber evidently makes over $250,000/year, yet John McCain thinks Airline Pilots are overpaid, underworked bus drivers. What does he think of Nurses? Does McCain think everyone makes over $250,000 a year?
Watching C Span....contrary to what the Republicans want you to think the majority of the Subprime Loans went to Middle/Upper Income homeowners...not to minorities. Morgage originators received a 1% fee for a conventional loan, 3.5% fee for a subprime. so they pushed buyers that could qualify for a conventional mortgage into a more expensive Sub Prime. It appears these Banks and Mortgage companies want to blame the minority victims, rather than take responsibility for their own actions while dipping into the taxpayer pocket. There existed widespread fraud. Why would McCain want to buy these mortages at Full Price rewarding the crooks?
This Campaign to blame the minorities for Subprime Mess is just another example of how McCain sold his soul to the Deviants managing his campaign.
Folks:This is an update of new features on the resource web site, http://AirlinePilotsForObama.info/ 1. The "STAND FOR CHANGE" page now has 567 airline pilots signed on as public supporters of Obama! Please forward this message with the link to every pilot you know and encourage them to sign up! We need to have thousands of us listed on this page: http://AirlinePilotsForObama.info/StandForChange.html 2. E-Mail Volume: In response to complaints about the volume of messages sent daily to the AirlinePilotsforObama@groups.barackobama.com group discussion listserv, we changed the configuration so that replies go back to the sender instead of all the group recipients (so if you reply to this e-mail, it will come to me, not hundreds of others). Additionally, all messages (even replies) that are sent to the AirlinePilotsforObama@groups.barackobama.com group are now held for manual approval by either myself or Jan Donatelli or Ed Rafacz. We are trying to cut way back on volume, so our objective is to ensure that the messages distributed to the AirlinePilotsforObama@groups.barackobama.com group are reasonably calculated to be of specific interest to airline pilots. Please be patient as we grow. Also, I have received numerous complaints that even though you believe you have opted out, you're still receiving large amounts of unwanted mail. In most cases, it appears these complaints have been exaggerated and, in any case, the e-mail "flood" has stopped. Still, if any member wants to to ensure their settings are the way they want them, I have prepared a fully-illustrated guide to listserv management here: http://AirlinePilotsForObama.info/listserv.html 3. Campaign Event Notices: Until recently, I had been sending individual notices of campaign events featuring the Obamas and Bidens. Going forward, I will compile all such notices into one e-mail citing, in the subject line, the states in which the appearances will occur. While many members pilot of this group may receive such notices because they live in the state or area, the primary reason I am sending them is because we all travel for a living and it is possible that there is an event you can attend while on a layover or while visiting family or friends and you might not otherwise know about it. 4. Next E-Newsletter: We are working on the next newsletter to go out to all 750+ members of the group on Saturday. If you have idea of what should be in the newsletter, please send it to newsletter@airlinepilotsforobama.info. 5. Information Cards: If you're going to a gathering of pilots, or even if you want to have something to give to your peers you encounter at work, we have prepared artwork for a "card" that you can print on standard 8-1/2 x 11 card stock and cut them four to a sheet. The PDF file can be sent to a local union printer and printed in as large a quantity as you like, or you can print it on your own color printer. The card is simple and provides the web address for the group as well as clear instruction about how to sign on to the Stand for Change page. The file can be downloaded here: http://AirlinePilotsForObama.info/APFOSFCCards.pdfThat is all for now. Keep the signups for the STAND FOR CHANGE page coming and, of course, help us reach our group donation goal by using this link to make donations:https://donate.barackobama.com/page/contribute/pf?outreach_page_id=32908A reasonable objective for any supporter is to find five more pilots to join the group and then get them to donate $25 or more. See if you can "Find Five to Bring $25."Cheers
Captain Mark Hunnibell
Fast Facts
-31 states allow no-excuse pre-Election Day in-person voting - either early voting on a voting machine or in-person absentee voting.
-4 states and the District of Columbia require an excuse for in-person absentee voting
-1 state is all vote-by mail
-16 states do not allow early or in-person absentee voting
-28 states allow no-excuse absentee voting by mail
-22 states and the District of Columbia require an excuse to vote absentee by mail
-Find out what voting procedures are available in your state with the following link.
http://earlyvoting.net/states/abslaws.php
-Using the link below you can:
http://www.voteforchange.com/
-Still have questions? One last link to resource.
http://www.votesmart.org/voter_registration_resources.php
There are 21 days until the election. Will your vote count?
I’m often asked how this group got started, so I thought I’d post a blog discussing our start, and highlighting some of our early and most supportive members. Originally, this site was started by a Shuttle America pilot, Omar Baig. Early this year, through my active work in Veterans for Obama and Women for Obama, I was made an Administrator, and as the group grew (along with the workload) I asked my friend and fellow Delta pilot Ed Rafacz, if he would help. Ed’s pretty computer savvy, so his help has been amazing! Ed and I had APFO cards, t-shirts, and flight kit stickers printed. The group grew to just over 100 pilots who all started spreading the word. My husband, Mike, and I hosted a fundraiser at our house June 5, 2008. We raised over $10,000 and heard directly from top leaders of the campaign staff about how to help the campaign best—and this pushed us even more to believe in APFO, which really jump-started the group.
Capt. John Prater, President, Airline Pilots, Int’l, was instrumental to this fundraiser by attending, and bringing along about a dozen pilots who were here in Chicago for an ALPA meeting. He also put his money where his mouth was, and gave our fund raising goal a huge boost! Since then, he’s used his “bully pulpit” to help spread the word about our site and our members. This led to all of us reaching out for members from other airlines and unions. APFO has never been, or intended to be, a Delta or ALPA website. We’re all united by a common cause, and this group is for ALL commercial pilots who support Barack Obama.
Well, talk about serendipity—right after that discussion, Mark Hunnibell from American Airlines joined, and provided the leap of energy that we needed to grow even more! Mark sorted through the FEC records, found that over 50% of all airline pilot contributions were for Democrats, with an amazing 41% of all contributions going to Barack Obama! Mark's research helped all the airline pilots who supported Obama discover that we really weren’t in the minority. The Republican faction of the pilot group has gotten louder and harsher—just like their (and my old) party has over the last decade—and many pilots were being convinced that there just weren’t any Democrats in the ranks, much less Obama supporters. We now stand at over 400 members, with most listed on our STAND FOR CHANGE public endorsement list! And while that’s very successful, we’re all working toward our goal of getting 5 new members, and contributing $25 dollars. If we can do that, we’ll raise over $100,000—and that puts us in the ranks of the top financial donors! We all know that in this world, and especially in politics, money talks, so let’s combine together to get OUR voice heard, OUR issues amplified! Not because Barack Obama is a politician who needs to see money before he sees an issue, but to show that we’re united enough to stand up together for what’s right, and also for ourselves!
If you haven’t noticed already, Mark’s a coding genius, has improved the myBO site, and has developed our resource site, http://airlinepilotsforobama.info. If you haven’t checked it out—go there right now, it’s got everything you need in one site! Materials to print to support your arguments in the cockpit, talking points, and steps that you can take NOW to best help Barack Obama! Plus, you can order our cool stuff, and list yourself to STAND FOR CHANGE!
If anyone else has the inclination to blog here to share what others are doing for Obama from other airlines, or from other unions, please post!
Enough for today, got to get back to work getting Barack elected….
Jan Donatelli
Administrator
PS—for the next two days, I’ll be attending the Obama-Biden ’08 Women’s Leadership Forum here in Chicago. You can bet I’ll continue APFO’s fight to get our issues front-and-center!
Folks
This is an update of new features on the resource web site, http://AirlinePilotsForObama.info/
That is all for now. Keep the signups for the STAND FOR CHANGE page coming and, of course, help us reach our group donation goal by using this link to make donations:
https://donate.barackobama.com/page/contribute/pf?outreach_page_id=32908
Cheers Mark Hunnibell
I am now a Obama/Biden supporter. McCain is an oxymoron....McCain says he is for absolute truth while running a smear/fear campaign that is full of lies. He and his fellow Navy Pilot Keating ( I still think highly of Naval Aviators) were as tight as money at the Banks. Today McCain would probably be in jail if he were treated equally as Martha Stewart.
Every time I see McCains' "Absolute Truth" statement I think of the sign on a dest of a Senior V.P. that completly falsified his background.
Jim
10/3/2008 – 32 Days before Election Day - - - Gospeltales of American War Heroes, recorded for the Library of Congress 2008
1045 --- American War Heroes read the good news about the trickette ticket. John Hanson still considers Newt Gingrich an imminent treat to the House Vote on the Financial Rescue Bill…
Business Outsource Security Services (BOSS) publishes the Economic Security Press for the National Economic Security Service (NESS) sends complimentary issues to the WAR ROOM for President Hanson in the Library of Congress… ESP reports that bill is full of pork that will be gobbled up by the global derivatives market which is in excess of $600 Trillion USD’s. More has to be done to protect the economy from crash landing into a deep depression. Safe guards put in place from the Great Depression of the 1930’s seem to be holding, but the rippling effect has paralyzed the global credit market. Banks are closing worldwide… Financial sector is consolidating. There is apparently no secondary credit market… Fed Reserve is planning more bank auctions for failing financial institutions. Private investors are pouncing on low priced high quality assets and multi-national enterprises.
Hanson { May Heaven still continue to smile on our efforts! }
As we enter the final few weeks of this election, TTD has just released to activists its latest edition of "The Transportation Worker" e-newsletter (click attachment below) dedicated exclusively to highlighting the dramatic differences on key issues between Barack Obama and John McCain. While this has been delivered to our activists, it obviously only reaches a fraction of the nation's transportation union activists and rank-and-file workers. I would urge you to forward this to your entire leadership and activist list – it provides them with the content they will need to push the Obama-Biden ticket and to become better informed on the issues at stake in this presidential election. Thanks for supporting our effort to reach as many union members as possible.
To view and forward the full newsletter, click here.
Defending Workers' Rights
McCain sponsored legislation to gut the bargaining rights of private sector aviation workers and refused to support legislation that would fix the broken collective bargaining system at the FAA. He also opposes the Employee Free Choice Act.
Obama introduced legislation to restore the bargaining rights of FAA workers and stop the FAA from imposing contract terms on employees without their consent. He also co-sponsored and voted for the Employee Free Choice Act.
Aviation
McCain supports foreign ownership and control of U.S. airlines. He also voted against safety and security standards for U.S. aircraft repair work performed in third-world countries.
Obama supports limiting foreign participation in U.S. airlines. He also supports forcing foreign repair stations to comply with U.S. safety and security standards.
Rail
McCain has called Amtrak a “scam” and has vowed to make sure that it “comes to an end.”
Obama is a strong supporter of federal funding for Amtrak and believes service should be expanded.
Transit and Highways
McCain has repeatedly opposed funding or expanding mass transit and our crumbling highways and bridges. He was one of only four Senators to oppose the largest transit and highway jobs bill in U.S. history.
Obama has voted in favor of transit and highway bills, and has a proposal for rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure.
Ports and Maritime
Even since 9/11, McCain has repeatedly opposed funding to secure U.S. port facilities, and called increased cargo screening an example of wasteful spending.
Obama has consistently voted to improve port security.
*The specific votes and statements that support each of the above comparisons are available in the materials at www.workingfamiliestoolkit.com or at www.ttd.org
McCain says now is not the time to blame but I blame Obama
McCain screws the Pooch, then blames the Pooch for being undressed.
This is an update of new features on the web site:
http://AirlinePilotsForObama.info/
http://AirlinePilotsforObama.info/Tips.html
Thank God for Barack Obama
It is often forgotten that the Russians had armed nuclear missiles aimed at the U.S. and the Military wanted to Bomb Cuba thinking that the missiles were not armed. President Kennedy called Khruschev and averted a disaster what could have ended the U.S. as we know it.
The Bush/McCain strategy of calling the Iranians names like a disturbed sixth grader is fatally flawed and has failed.
McCain has a Jekyll/Hyde personality...reminded me of Jack Nicholson in "A Few Good Men" during the Debate. A McCain Presidency is scary.
Finally, I note that we are within $35 of reaching $5,000 in donations from 40 individuals. Surely there are enough readers of this message to make a donation to keep this campaign going and make airline pilots proud. Use this link to make a donation that will be credited to Airline Pilots for Obama:
