In a time in America where the dollar has lost it's true value as the ultimate currency we need Hope for a stronger Dollar that will raise up the ships of Economic growth. In that moment we need to understand as People of the Greatest Nation of the face of the Earth that we are not just in a Global Crisis but also an Economic Crisis.
Barack Obama continuing his American Small Business Tour in Ohio today with a rally in Chillicothe. He spoke to the attendees about the economic crisis. Specifically, he used this opportunity to talk about rescue plans not only for our nation's largest financial institutions, but for our nation's nearly 27 million small businesses. His new Small Business Rescue Plan includes the following:
A nation-wide program to provide affordable, fixed-rate loans to small businesses across the country. This would be run through the SBA's Disaster Loan Program, which provides loans to small business owners get the help they need to maintain their inventory and meet their payroll. He'll also make it easier for private lenders to make small business loans by expanding the SBA's loan guarantee program.
Relieving the tax burden on small businesses to help create jobs. He has proposed eliminating all capital gains taxes on investments in small businesses and start-ups. He has proposed an additional temporary business tax incentive through next year to encourage new investments. He will also give a middle-class tax cut to 95% of all workers.
Investing $15 billion a year in renewable sources of energy to create five million new, green jobs over the next decade – jobs that pay well and can't be outsourced; jobs building solar panels and wind turbines and fuel-efficient cars; jobs that will help us end our dependence on oil from Middle East dictators.
Putting two million more Americans to work rebuilding our crumbling roads, schools, and bridges – because it is time to build an American infrastructure for the 21st century. He would also work with the Building Trades to expand apprenticeship programs so young workers can develop their skills.
Here's how he explained his reasoning for proposing the Small Business Rescue Plan:
If we're going to rebuild this economy from the bottom up, it has to start with our small businesses on Main Street – not just the big banks on Wall Street. Small businesses employ half of the workers in the private sector in this country, and account for the majority of the job growth. But we also know that a credit crunch has dried up capital and put these jobs at risk – shops can't finance their inventories, and small firms can't make payroll; it's harder to get an idea off the ground, or to provide health care for your employees. If we don't act, we'll be looking at scaled back operations, shuttered shops, and laid off workers. That's why we need a Small Business Rescue Plan – so that we're extending our hand to the shops and restaurants; the start-ups and small firms that create jobs and make our economy grow. Main Street needs relief and you need it now. We won't grow government– we'll work within the Small Business Administration to keep folks afloat, while providing tax cuts to lift the tide. It's what we did after 9/11, and we were able to get low cost loans out to tens of thousands of small businesses. That's one of the many steps we can and should take to help stop job losses and turn this economy around.It starts with a nation-wide program to provide affordable, fixed-rate loans to small businesses across the country. We can run this through the SBA's Disaster Loan Program, which provides loans to small business owners get the help they need to maintain their inventory and meet their payroll. We'll also make it easier for private lenders to make small business loans by expanding the SBA's loan guarantee program. By temporarily eliminating fees for borrowers and lenders, we can unlock the credit that small firms need to move forward, pay their workers, and grow their business.Just as we make lending more available, we need to relieve the tax burden on small businesses to help create jobs. That's why I've proposed eliminating all capital gains taxes on investments in small businesses and start-ups. And today, I'm proposing an additional temporary business tax incentive through next year to encourage new investments. Because it's time to protect the jobs we have and to create the jobs of tomorrow by unlocking the drive, and ingenuity, and innovation of the American people. That's what I'll do as President of the United States. The real question that i want to ask you is:1. Has the past eight years of leave behind Small Businesses to help the Fortune 500 companies get richer an richer the kind of life America needs?2. In 1776 when America became. 95% of all Americans Owned A Business an worked it Well.Why can't that be so today as well ? Maybe not 95% but why not try? THINK ABOUT IT?
If we're going to rebuild this economy from the bottom up, it has to start with our small businesses on Main Street – not just the big banks on Wall Street. Small businesses employ half of the workers in the private sector in this country, and account for the majority of the job growth. But we also know that a credit crunch has dried up capital and put these jobs at risk – shops can't finance their inventories, and small firms can't make payroll; it's harder to get an idea off the ground, or to provide health care for your employees. If we don't act, we'll be looking at scaled back operations, shuttered shops, and laid off workers.
That's why we need a Small Business Rescue Plan – so that we're extending our hand to the shops and restaurants; the start-ups and small firms that create jobs and make our economy grow. Main Street needs relief and you need it now. We won't grow government– we'll work within the Small Business Administration to keep folks afloat, while providing tax cuts to lift the tide. It's what we did after 9/11, and we were able to get low cost loans out to tens of thousands of small businesses. That's one of the many steps we can and should take to help stop job losses and turn this economy around.It starts with a nation-wide program to provide affordable, fixed-rate loans to small businesses across the country. We can run this through the SBA's Disaster Loan Program, which provides loans to small business owners get the help they need to maintain their inventory and meet their payroll. We'll also make it easier for private lenders to make small business loans by expanding the SBA's loan guarantee program. By temporarily eliminating fees for borrowers and lenders, we can unlock the credit that small firms need to move forward, pay their workers, and grow their business.Just as we make lending more available, we need to relieve the tax burden on small businesses to help create jobs. That's why I've proposed eliminating all capital gains taxes on investments in small businesses and start-ups. And today, I'm proposing an additional temporary business tax incentive through next year to encourage new investments. Because it's time to protect the jobs we have and to create the jobs of tomorrow by unlocking the drive, and ingenuity, and innovation of the American people. That's what I'll do as President of the United States.
The real question that i want to ask you is:
1. Has the past eight years of leave behind Small Businesses to help the Fortune 500 companies get richer an richer the kind of life America needs?
2. In 1776 when America became. 95% of all Americans Owned A Business an worked it Well.
Why can't that be so today as well ?
Maybe not 95% but why not try?
THINK ABOUT IT?
At Friday night's first presidential debate, if Senator John McCain chooses to not attend, McCain does so even though the Senate is not scheduled for a session during any of the four debates and, if there was a vote, they could easily wait to assist TWO of their members by a modest delay of a few hours. I have two ideas for Senator Barack Obama to consider if McCain bails-out of the debate.
A. At the start, Senator Obama needs to look into the camera, smile, and say what my human resources manager told me: "Showing up, on time, is 80 percent of the job."
B. Next, Senator Obama should briefly debate Senator McCain's committee credentials. What Senate committee duty is so urgent that it requires McCain to miss the debate? Name them. *
1. Armed Services, ranking member
2. Commerce, Science and Transportation
3. Indian Affairs
* = source: Congress.org, http://www.congress.org/bio/id/192
Note: The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation does not regulate finances. Please visit http://www.congress.org/congressorg/directory/committees.tt?commid=scomm to review that committee's jurisdiction.
This new music video from Dave Stewart (formerly of the Eurythmics) will blow you away!
"American Prayer"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVi4rUzf-0Q
(paste this link to your browser)
"Topless Women, Kid Rock, Bikers, And John McCain" is a headline on The Huffington Post. Tonight, Senator John McCain is visiting Sturgis, South Dakota to participate in the Sturgis Rally 2008. The Hawaiian Tropic girls will be there, featured in the "Miss Buffalo Chip Beauty Pageant -- Bikinis on the Beach" which ESPN's Jim Caple is quoted as saying it is "essentially a topless beauty pageant. And occassionally bottomless, too." The Huffington Post further reports, "During a drenching rain Wednesday night, the contest broke up into smaller groups and one woman wound up dancing naked on a bar top. Her boyfriend/husband saw her and angrily dragged her away as she struggled to put her pants back on and muttered something about how, 'It's only this one week a year.'" That was five days ago.
Yet a scant three days ago, John McCain criticized Barack Obama for being too holy and used Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, and the prophet Moses as a comparison to mock Obama as "The One."
And previously, conservative Christian religious leaders met in Denver, Colorado, where they endorsed John McCain as the man who most closely represents their faith and positions on morality. Now, Senator McCain is taking his "family values" conservative Christian base on a trip that just might make all the secular networks use censored video masking. (In case a wardrobe malfunction "pops out" on camera.)
John McCain. His values are clear for everyone to see.
For too long i have sat back and watched people attack two fine AMERICANS like Senator & Mrs. Obama. I WILL NOT stand for it. Rather then prattle on in this first post of my blog, i decided to make a web page HOPEFULLY showing support for Senator & Mrs. Obama. Below is the link. Enjoy!!!!
My Barack Obama Support Page:
http://btk220.home.mchsi.com/BarackObamaSupportPage.html
Feel free to write me with your comments.
GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Ozark Empire Fair began today in Springfield, Missouri, and we set up a booth for the Greene County Democrats. The booth not only promotes local candidates, but also Barack. Missouri is a battleground and these are the folks we need to connect with.
So far so good, there’s a lot of interest in Obama considering the location. Within the first couple of hours we ran out of what little literature on him we had – we’re scrambling to get some more.
The fair continues through Sunday August 3rd. If you happen to be in the area, stop by the booth and say “hi.” And don’t forget to wear Obama shirts and buttons, the more visual presence we can generate the more it will get people to open up and talk.
And if anyone has any ideas for how to promote Barack and connect with fair-goers, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Below are the results of a poll from a national organization on the seventh district Congressional race. It is great news.
SPRINGFIELD, MO. – By 47% to 41%, likely voters in Missouri's 7th Congressional District say incumbent Republican Congressman Roy Blunt is not focused on the needs of "people like me," according to a poll conducted by Voter Roll Call for the Monroe for Congress Committee.
72% of Democrats, 59% of Independents, 57% of Moderates and 59% of those who make less than $40,000 a year say Blunt is not focused on their needs.
While 47% of voters in the District say Blunt should be re-elected, almost as many, 41%, say it is time for a change.
65% in the district say the Economy in Southwest Missouri is weak.
47% say that things in Southwest Missouri are off on the wrong track, while only 36% say things are headed in the right direction.
A majority of Moderates and a plurality of Independents say they will vote for the Democrat in November.
“The writing on the wall is clear”, stated Democratic Congressional Candidate, Richard Monroe. “After twelve years of partisanship and attacks, southwest Missourians are looking for a Congressman who will work across party lines to end the gridlock and make real progress.”
Richard Monroe recently retired from the United States Attorney’s Office after twenty years of honorable service as a Federal Prosecutor.
Monroe went on to point out that earlier this year Representative Blunt voted against establishing an Office of Congressional Ethics. Continued Monroe, “as a Federal Prosecutor, I dealt with a broad range of Federal crimes from health care fraud to drug enforcement, immigration enforcement to financial frauds, murder and everything in between. Not only will I support restoring integrity and ethics to Congress, I’ll fight to restore them everyday I’m in Washington.”
--30--
Richard Monroe is a Democratic candidate running for the 7th District Congressional seat held by Minority Whip Roy Blunt. He is very qualified for the position. A former Judge Advocate General for the U S Army, county prosecutor, and federal prosecutor, Richard is a friend to law enforcement as evidenced by his past profession. He believes in a managed budget, and opposes the spending that we have seen in the past seven years under the Bush Administration (and supported by Roy Blunt).
The Monroe campaign is gaining momentum, with the candidate on the campaign trail daily, meeting personally with the voters of the seventh district. He shows a genuine interest in the problems and concerns of the residents within our district, and would represent their interests instead of the interests of the big oil companies and lobbyists as Jack Abramoff.
I urge readers to contribute to this blog regularly, and lets show Richard that we support his move to unseat one of the neoconservative leaders of the House of Representatives.
Jim Hight
Neosho, Missouri
I served in the U.S. Army Reserve from 1987 to 1995, so the subject of veterans' affairs is a passion of mine. Although many vets do get assistance, I've heard several horror stories, both national and local. Walter Reed Army Hospital is but one incident where our troops have been let down.
I've even heard about a local man, here in southwest Missouri, who is a World War II vet who lost a leg; as he's aged over the years, he's naturally lost body mass, to the point that he can no longer walk because the VA won't replace his extremely heavy 1940's vintage prosthetic!
In Kansas City, there is a vet by the name of Tomas Young. On September 13, 2001, Tomas was talking with an Army recruiter because Tomas wanted to go to Afghanistan, to fight the actual people who attacked us. Instead, Tomas ended up in Iraq and gravely wounded. His story of rehabilitation from life-altering wounds is truly remarkable and the lack of quality health care as a disabled vet is eye-opening. You can check it out at http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal05302008/profile.html, which is a 2 part documentary, and find other reference material as well. Also, Tomas has a documentary film called "Body Of War" that is showing in limited release. You can find current information about that at www.bodyofwar.com.
Here is a listing for a news report on Senator Barack Obama's thoughts and feelings about our veterans:
http://www.cnn/2008/POLITICS/07/03/campaign.wrap/index.html
After reviewing it, please tell me what you think. Thanks!
Any interest in registering voters this Saturday? I was sent an email from the campaign, encouraging us to participate in voter reg drives, but we don't have one here in Springfield. This is a great opportunity for us to contact new voters in the area. Send me a message if you are available.
Thanks for your consistent dedication to change!
As the primaries start to wind down and Sen Clinton refuses to graciously remove herself from the race, tensions are going to start running high amongst all of us. Please remember that the reason why Sen Obama is so appealing to so many people to include Republicans is the call to unity Sen Obama promotes. We all need to refrain from slamming Sen Clinton and try to work to bring her supporters over to us. Bad-mouthing each other or her supportes will not help us win this election. We need to start to focus on unity to bring us all together by November so we can win the election. The more negative we get the harder it will be for us to convince the undecided and the Clinton supporters to join together.
Just my opinion
Thank you for being part of this movement. Thank you for the phone calls you made to your family members to remind them to vote; for contacting voters in different time zones on the importance of change; for encouraging us to continue on to the next state, to the next community. Today I rented a car with a co-worker from NC, and we came here to Charleston WV for GOTV. It is beautiful country, and I'm excited to meet the new members of the campaign here in the state capital. Thanks to you, we are bringing the excitement of NC with us.
We are the change that we seek
I'm sure you can imagine we are feeling a fierce urgency of now today. We have already been declared the winner here in NC, though we have a lot of work to do in order to make that win a victory. Please join us in contacting voters, in helping them get to the polls today or tomorrow, as One Stop Early Vote is already open, and we need to help people see the opportunity that is before them. Log into the action center, read about OSEV, and be the change for whom we have been waiting.
"In the unlikely story that is American, there has never been anything false about hope."
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/caitlinharvey/gGBXBg
Everything is moving so fast here...We only received confirmation last night on this event. The Field Organizers were given fifty tickets each, and today we contacted community leaders and strong volunteers for this small gathering with Senator Obama. (It's not really my style, but I almost called him "Barack.")
It was short, and, yes, sweet. He told us a story I had not yet heard about his going to Greenwood, a trip he agreed to, perhaps, "when he had a drink" in him. Tired, soaked from a heavy rain, and unenthusiastic, he walked into a room of twenty locals to meet a woman, a private detective, "wearing what looked like a church hat." "Fired up," she said. "Ready to go," they responded. "Fired up," she called. "Ready to go," they repeated. Obama told us he and his aids looked at each other in confusion, and he realized he had been upstaged. "But then about two or three minutes of this got me into it, and the next day when I met with my staff I said...."
You know the rest.
Today I feel the fierce urgency of now.
Here is an editorial from the Springfield Newsleader. I offer it for a thoughtful discussion.
Switch to ethanol too costly for consumers Hydrogen better choice to escape oil dependence. A gasoline-free America is the only sure way to be free of foreign oil dependency.
Congress believes that corn-based ethanol will free the U.S. from foreign oil dependency (by 20 percent) by 2022. To do so, 36 billion gallons of ethanol was mandated to be produced annually (28.2 billion gallons from corn).
OAS_AD('ArticleFlex_1'); <a href="http://gcirm.ozarksnow.gcion.com/RealMedia/ads/click_lx.ads/mo-springfield.ozarksnow.com/news/article.htm/259102390/ArticleFlex_1/OasDefault/CarolJones_LocalNews_03-2008/Carol_red.html/34623064653339393437323931346130?http://www.caroljones.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://gcirm.ozarksnow.gcion.com/RealMedia/ads/Creatives/OasDefault/CarolJones_LocalNews_03-2008/cjones_sold300.gif" width=300 height=250 alt="Carol Jones Realty www.caroljones.com" border=0></a> Two years of subsidy-backed ethanol production has had the following results:
More than 20 percent of the total U.S. corn production was used to produce only 4.85 billion gallons of ethanol; to meet 2008 mandates, 28 percent of corn will be used.
These mandates for corn-based ethanol have contributed to dramatic food price increases nationwide. Corn is $5 per bushel; double of a year or two ago. Milk is up 29 percent, eggs up 44 percent; meat prices off the charts. These rising costs are devastating for low- and fixed-income families and individuals living on Social Security alone. Further corn production increases for ethanol will raise prices to intolerable levels.
Federal subsidies have cost taxpayers $5 billion dollars, and millions in rising state subsidies.
Carbon dioxide pollution continues from the remaining 80 percent of gasoline not as yet replaced by ethanol.
The U.S. oil trade deficit (the yearly cost of buying foreign oil) grew from $175 billion in 2005, to $261 billion in 2006. In 2007, oil purchases equaled a whopping $331 billion; 36 percent of the total annual U.S. deficit.
Pollution from corn-based production continues to enlarge the marine-life "dead zone" (an area the size of New Jersey) in the Gulf of Mexico.
That's just in the two years! To attain mandated ethanol production by 2009, 35 percent of U.S. corn will be used; and by 2015, 40 percent to 50 percent of U.S. corn will be needed.
Further, if Barack Obama gets elected, his energy plan calls for 60 billion gallons of ethanol annually by 2030. Seven times what was produced in 2006 and almost double what Congress wants by 2022.
The sad reality is we will decrease our oil usage by just 10 percent by 2015 and maybe only 20 percent by 2022. The cost: about $3.25 trillion in subsidies and $7 trillion in oil trade deficits alone! So, in 14 years we will still be dependent on oil for 80 percent of our needs.
The current Energy Bill is arguably the most irresponsible piece of legislation ever passed because hydrogen is a safe efficient gasoline replacement with none of the downsides of ethanol and offers:
Zero pollutants from emissions. Zero endangerment of our fresh water supplies and polluting effluents from ethanol production. Zero farm subsidy costs. Zero annual oil trade deficits from foreign oil purchases. Zero contribution to higher food costs and inflation. Lower consumer fuel prices at the pump. And finally, truly zero dependence on foreign oil.
Already: Large hydrogen production plants exist near the top 100 U.S. metro areas (where 70 percent of the population lives). California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is pushing to get 200 hydrogen filling stations built by 2010, from Vancouver to Baja, Calif. Forty-two different models of hydrogen cars are being manufactured in the U.S. and overseas. Japan alone will have 50,000 "hydrogen" cars on the roads by 2010. Chevy is testing cars in New York, Washington DC, and Los Angeles. Honda has been consumer testing hydrogen cars since 1996. President Bush has allocated approximately $2 billion in "hydrogen highway" research.
This Congressional Energy Bill created by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid and endorsed by Hillary Clinton and Obama is a lose, lose, lose proposition and it's time to stop it.
The oil companies, car companies, EPA and conservationists know that replacing gasoline as a fuel will have to happen sooner or later. Becoming gasoline free will truly free us from OPEC's price manipulations and even the need to have a presence in the Middle East. And finally, we will begin to save trillions of taxpayers' dollars, immeasurably help the economy and environment, and be a godsend to our low-income families.
Because the U.S. consumes more oil than China, Japan, Germany, Russia and India combined, once the U.S. is oil free, the price of oil will plummet.
