http://www.examiner.com/x-17533-Baltimore-Religion--Politics-Examiner~y2010m2d23-Ertha-Harris--Bringing-Solutions-and-Opportunities-to-the-12th-District
Click the link above to read how you can take action today (2/23) in Baltimore to support Ertha Harris, a 12th District nominee for the vacant seat in the Baltimore City Council!
At 12:00 p.m., Eastern Time (ET), September 8, 2009, President Barack Obama will deliver a national address to the students of America. (Please note that this is a change from the originally scheduled time.) During this special address, the president will speak directly to the nation’s children and youth about persisting and succeeding in school. The president will challenge students to work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for their learning.
The U.S. Department of Education invites students of all ages, teachers, and administrators to participate in this historic moment by watching the president deliver the address, which will be broadcast live on the White House Web site (http://www.whitehouse.gov/live/) and on C-SPAN at 12:00 p.m., ET. We also encourage educators to use this moment to help students get focused and inspired to begin the new academic year. The Department of Education offers educators a menu of classroom activities—created by its teachers-in-residence, the Teaching Ambassador Fellows—to help engage students in the address and stimulate classroom discussions about the importance of education.
How can we make sure that health care reform includes ending insurance companies' abuse of denying claims (millions of claim denials a year)?
My son was just refused reimbursement for $1,300 for physical therapy for a serious knee injury. His physical therapy was recommended by his doctor to prevent the need for surgery. He was told he could be covered for PT only after he had surgery. How stupid and short-sighted is that! But I bet that, if he has to have surgery , insurance will find another reason to deny the claim. Just think about it. Our insurance premiums pay for insurance staff to find excuses to deny our benefits! Multiply this problem by millions a year.
Access to affordable health insurance is a key starting point, but reform needs to include correction of these bogus claim denials and continued oversight. Universal and continuous access to a public option would also help a lot to keep private insurance honest and give people like my son a chance to vote with his feet and walk out on ripoff private insurers.
Wooo-Hoooo! We did it! What a night! Myself and hundreds more gathered in a conference room at one of our local Red Lion hotels. Sponsored by the Spokane County Democrats, we had two large screen TVs tuned in to CNN to watch the results as they came in, and excellent finger food. With each state's results, we whooped for Obama -- and went wild when he was announced our next President.
Our Washington state Governor's race is close again, but I'll wait till tomorrow to check on that one. Governor Gregoire, our Democrat incumbent, is a staunch Obama supporter, and I don't doubt for a minute that she would help him as President in any way she could if she gets re-elected. Like Obama, she's an excellent speaker.
If this site stays up, I'll post a couple more blogs tomorrow -- one on this campaign "journey" (from the owner of a healing arts center called "Inner Journeys", no less!) and one of thanks for all those I've come in contact with through working in my small way for our next President of the United States.
YES.WE.DID, and yes, we will continue,
To all, a VERY GOOD NIGHT!
Susan
A beautiful day for voting here in Massachusetts. Unseasonably warm with bright sunshine. At 11:00am, usually an off-hour for polls, my precinct was hopping. My daughter, age 6, was thrilled to go to the polls with me. She was sad that she isn't 18 and able to vote herself, but was proud to be able to "help" by offering our address at the check-in, placing her hand over mine as "we" voted for Obama, and kissing the ballot before I submitted it to the machine.
I collected my Starbucks coffee, and perused my Facebook account to check in with friends around the country. The news and the vibe is good. In New York City, a friend stood in line for over 3 hours. In Virginia, the mood was cheerful.
Antsy and eager to do something else, I logged on to my Obama page to start making calls to Florida voters.
And now, I wait and HOPE!
Another friend has asked to forward the actual facts against this smear email. I answered the best I could, any other suggestions (please) :
So, what do "the rich" pay in federal income taxes? Nothing, right? That, at least, is what most people think. And Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama wants to raise the top marginal rate for "the rich" -- known in some quarters as "job creators."
A recent poll commissioned by Investor's Business Daily asked, in effect, "What share do you think the rich pay?" Their findings? Most people are completely clueless about the amount the rich actually do pay. First, the data. The top 5 percent (those making more than $153,542 -- the group whose taxes Obama seeks to raise) pay 60 percent of all federal income taxes. The rich (aka the top 1 percent of income earners, those making more than $388,806 a year), according to the IRS, pay 40 percent of all federal income taxes. The top 1 percent's taxes comprise 17 percent of the federal government's revenue from all sources, including corporate taxes, excise taxes, social insurance and retirement receipts. Now, what do people think the rich pay? The IBD/TIPP poll found that 36 percent of those polled thought the rich contribute 10 percent or less of all federal income taxes. Another 15 percent thought the rich pay between 10 and 20 percent, while another 10 percent thought the rich's share is between 20 and 30 percent. In other words, most people thought the rich pay less -- far less -- than they actually do. Only 12 percent of those polled thought the rich pay more than 40 percent. Let's try this another way. A U.S. News & World Report blogger went to the Democratic National Convention in Denver and conducted an informal poll of 24 DNC delegates. He asked them, "What should 'the rich' pay in income taxes?" Half the respondents said "25 percent"; 25 percent said "20 percent"; 12 percent said "30 percent"; and another 12 percent said "35 percent." The average DNC delegate wanted the rich to pay 25.6 percent, which is lower than what the rich pay now -- both by share of taxes and by tax rate! Thirty percent of American voters pay nothing -- zero, zip, nada -- in federal income taxes. And, not too surprisingly, compared with taxpaying voters, they are more likely to support spending that benefits them. The majority of the 30 percent who don't pay federal income taxes agree with Obama's $65 billion plan to institute taxpayer-funded universal health coverage. But the majority of the 70 percent who pay federal income taxes are opposed to Obama's health care plan. Non-taxpayers support Obama's plans for increased tax deductions for lower-income Americans, along with higher overall tax rates levied against middle- and upper-income households. The majority of non-taxpayers (57 percent) also favor raising the individual income-tax rate for those in the highest bracket from 35 percent to 54 percent. And the majority (59 percent) favors raising Social Security taxes by 4 percent for any individual or business that makes at least $250,000. Obama calls increasing taxes and giving them to the needy a matter of "neighborliness." Vice presidential running mate Joe Biden calls it a matter of "patriotism." Yet when it comes to charitable giving, neither Obama (until recently) nor Biden feels sufficiently neighborly or patriotic to donate as much as does the average American household: 2 percent of their adjusted gross income. Liberal families earn about 6 percent more than conservative families, yet conservative households donate about 30 percent more to charity than do liberal households. And conservatives give more than just to their own churches and other houses of worship. Conservatives, especially religious conservatives, give far more money and donate more of their time to nonreligious charitable causes than do liberals -- especially secular liberals. In 2007, President George W. Bush and his wife had an adjusted gross income of $923,807. They paid $221,635 in taxes, and donated $165,660 to charity -- or 18 percent of their income. Vice President and Mrs. Cheney, in 2007, had a taxable income of $3.04 million. And they paid $602,651 in taxes, and donated $166,547 to charity -- or 5.5 percent of their income. Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, earned between $200,000 and $300,000 a year between 2000 and 2004, and they donated less than 1 percent to charity. When their income soared to $4.2 million in 2007, their charitable contributions went up to 5 percent. Joe and Jill Biden, by contrast, made $319,853 and gave $995 to charity in 2007, or 0.3 percent of their income. And that was during the year Biden was running for president. Over the past 10 years, the Bidens earned $2,450,042 and gave $3,690 to charity -- or 0.1 percent of their income. So let's sum up. The "compassionate" liberals -- at least based on charitable giving -- show less compassion than "hardhearted" conservatives. The rich pay more in income taxes than people think. Voters, clueless about the facts, want the rich to pay still more.
Please comment with a great argument so that we can make a powerful response.
A horrified America watched John McCain stagger up from his debate chair last night and turn into a monster. He almost caught our Barack Obama! What was happening? Clearly, the special anti-monster juice McCain drinks before public appearances was starting to wear off. They got him in the titanium-lined SWAT van just before he fully transformed. But fully transformed into what?
HORRIBLE MEDIEVAL WEREWOLF: This would actually explain a lot, including, probably, why McCain is always talking about medieval Ireland, when he was a boy, before he was bitten by a werewolf, which put a terrible end to his happy carefree days of being a Celtic warrior who always crashed his horse into the enemy’s village.
HORRIBLE CHILD-EATING DEATH CLOWN: No wonder McCain’s handlers try to get him away from those debate audiences so quick! He was just moments away from turning into this evil-ass thing, the New Hampshire Primary Murder Clown, Rich Uncle Pennywise! Imagine being stuck on Secret Service duty with this campaign. Imagine having to bury the bodies every night.
EVIL GORGON MEDUSA: Walnuts has always roamed the Earth, in his various guises, but by night, he shows his true death’s head, the GORGONEION from Hades, where he spent Five and a Half Million Years. (This is also the face he makes when he has sexytime! Your tax dollars pay for his Viagra!)
DISGUSTING CLASSIC-ROCK GIMMICK CAR: There is nothing more hideous than 700-year-old arena rocker Gene Simmons, so it stands to reason that John McCain is the demon father of the KISS monster. Legend says shitty ‘71 Volkswagen Beetles with home paint jobs and huge styrofoam monster skulls/tongues were frequently on the scene before the Crusaders lost Jerusalem to the Arabs led by Bill Ayers the Terrorist Muslin.
EVIL SILENT-MOVIE GERMAN VAMPIRE: And now, a quote from Bram Stoker’s Dracula: “As the Count leaned over me and his hands touched me… a horrible feeling of nausea came over me, which, do what I would, I could not conceal. When the Count saw my face, his eyes blazed with a sort of demonaic fury, and he suddenly made a grab at my throat.”
Yes, that sounds about right.
THE BEAST: But our demonic experts here on the Wonkette staff finally concluded McCain was turning into this hell-beast of yore, as seen here in a 16th Century woodcut. These demonic shit-monsters once roamed the Eastern Seaboard, until they were captured by Benedict Arnold in 1776 and taught Naval Command skills at Annapolis. The creatures spawn a single fetus from the “egg duct” every hundred years; the fourth spawn of the cycle is always a crazy, self-obsessed idiot who has no military skillz.
Sad news for tree-lovers. I had put two Obama yard signs in our yard, along with a yard sign for the WA State Democratic Governor, Christine Gregoire, who is running again for governor this year. Sometime during the night of Oct. 14th, not only were our yard signs taken, but our young tree in front of one of them was hacked and fatally wounded.
I was prepared for stolen yard signs, but not for harm to an innocent tree. The tree wasn’t voting for Obama – and even if it were, that doesn’t mean its life had to be taken. I am very saddened by this cruel act. I had decided to make a donation to Obama in memory of the tree. Today I realized that there may be other tree-lovers and Obama supporters out there who would also want to commemorate our sapling with a donation to Obama’s campaign.
Therefore, the fundraiser on my Obama profile page. I will match the first $200 donated. This gives me the opportunity to make the donation I had planned to, as well as use this act by “those ones” to help our candidate even more!
YES.WE.CAN move beyond hate and ignorance!
Well, the first letter I wrote was too long. So here's the next try....
When the chat on The View turned to Palin’s record on earmarks McCain got it wrong:
Barbara Walters: She also took some earmark spending.Joy Behar: A lot.McCain: Well, not as governor she didn’t.
McCain’s wrong here. It’s true she scaled back the state’s federal spending requests within the last two years. But she didn’t eliminate them. She sent a letter on her gubernatorial stationery with $197 million in earmark requests, directly contradicting McCain’s statement. Palin writes:
Palin:In preparing these requests, the State has been mindful of congressional concerned about budget deficits and earmarks. Accordingly, the total number of requests has been reduced significantly from previous years. Approximately two-thirds of the requests involve programs that have been funded previously.
It’s clear Palin knew the gravy train was slowing (in large part because McCain was applying the brakes), but that didn’t stop her from sending the nearly $200 million request (nearly $30 per Alaskan, according to the 2006 Census Bureau population estimates). And we’ve already reported that Palin’s history with earmarks dates back to her time as mayor of Wasilla.
McCain would have been on more solid ground if he were informing his View-ership of his own earmark-busting record. The Arizona senator’s requests have amounted to a big, fat zero. But Palin’s still asking for pork by the barrel, even if the barrels have been downsized.
Posted under FactCheck.org, John McCain, Presidential Election 2008, Sarah Palin
SB 99: However, no pupil shall be required to take or participate in any family life class or course on HIV AIDS or family life instruction if his parent or guardian submits written objection thereto, and refusal to take or participate in such course or program shall not be reason for suspension or expulsion of such pupil.
SB99: Course material and instruction shall discuss and providefor the development of positive communication skills to maintain healthy relationships and avoid unwanted sexual activity. ... Course material and instruction shall teach pupils ... how to say no to unwanted sexual advances ... and shall include information about verbal, physical, and visual sexual harassment, including without limitation nonconsensual sexual advances, nonconsensual physical sexual contact, and rape by an acquaintance. The course material and instruction shall contain methods of preventing sexual assault by an acquaintance, including exercising good judgment and avoiding behavior that impairs one's judgment.
Keyes, Oct. 21, 2004: Well, I had noticed that, in your voting, you had voted, at one point, that sex education should begin in kindergarten, and you justified it by saying that it would be "age-appropriate" sex education. [It] made me wonder just exactly what you think is "age-appropriate." Obama: We have a existing law that mandates sex education in the schools. We want to make sure that it's medically accurate and age-appropriate. Now, I'll give you an example, because I have a six-year-old daughter and a three-year-old daughter, and one of the things my wife and I talked to our daughter about is the possibility of somebody touching them inappropriately, and what that might mean. And that was included specifically in the law, so that kindergarteners are able to exercise some possible protection against abuse, because I have family members as well as friends who suffered abuse at that age. So, that's the kind of stuff that I was talking about in that piece of legislation.
Davidson (via Education Week): I don’t think [McCain] has a strong track record of putting education at the top of his priorities.
Chapman: ... the ad itself doesn't bother explaining how the candidates differ on school vouchers, the subject of my column. Instead, it insults our intelligence by expecting us to believe that Obama thinks kindergarteners should be taught how to use condoms before they're taught to read. Right. And Joe Biden eats puppies for breakfast.
America laughed again last night as a terrible “green screen” once again appeared behind John McCain, during his big speech at the RNC. Well, the “green” was actually the lawn of a school in North Hollywood, California. And the school is called “Walter Reed Middle School.” And the random idiot assigned the task of picking John McCain’s video background during the biggest speech of his career was apparently told to put a picture of Walter Reed Army Medical Center on the screen, and ineptly googled this utterly random California school picture, instead. And nobody knows what Walter Reed Hospital looks like, anyways, so everybody just assumed it was another one of his mansions. The school is about to release “a statement” damning McCain for inappropriately using the picture of this innocent school. All of this, as Josh Marshall notes, is exactly what happened in the movie Spinal Tap. [Talking Points Memo]
From Wonkette's Sarah K. Smith
"Look George!" said Johnny with the excitement of a young curious child making a new discovery, "all of the poor people look like ants from way up here!" George chuckled knowingly and proceeded to tell little Johnny about the time the poor little ants were in a wild frenzy after the mean ol nasty hurricane flooded their pathetic hovels. "Wow" exclaimed Johnny, smiling like an over ripe jack-o-lantern, "I cant wait to be king of the ants."
So McSame and his buddy George feel that the economy is fundamentally sound....Bullshit. An oil man and the beneficiary of his wife's beer inheritance know the economy is anything but sound. But if you were cusioned from the economic meat hooks and biting economic reality that 99% of Americans are facing, you might have the old "good enough for government work" attitude too. Besides, without extreme social and economic stratification who will these despondent crusty rich old white guys hire to do all of their yucky yard work, laundry, cooking, ass wiping, ect.
From Wonkette:
Here are the current Top Headlines at Bloomberg:
Can you say "Out of Touch"...I knew ya could
Happy days are here again...or.....brother can you spare a dime?
From MSNBC:
NEVADA: Per state political guru Jon Ralston, Democrats now have a 76,000-voter registration edge in Nevada, 565,855 Democrats to 489,802. Ralston asks, “Think John McCain should worry yet?”
Nevada is within our reach!!! Time to phonebank and canvass!!
This is too easy. Me thinks McCain's penchant for former beauty queens has clouded what little sense of judgement he may have had left in his convoluted brain. Any random Googler could have done a better job of vetting than McCain's people....Sheesh!!!!
From andrewhalcro.com:
Andrew Halcro is an American politician from Anchorage, Alaska. Formerly a Republican member of the Alaska Legislature, he ran for Governor of Alaska as an Independent candidate in the 2006 election.
One of these days Governor Sarah Palin will realize that the folks back home can actually hear what she says on the road while representing Alaska. One day she will; but it certainly wasn't yesterday.
According to June Kronholz who writes for the Washington Wire, a Wall Street Journal blog covering politics, at Monday's National Governor's Association meeting, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell was addressing the group as the incoming head of the organization.
Rendell stated that his priority for his coming term would be to push for a larger investment in public infrastructure from congress. He decried the nations $1.6 trillion infrastructure deficit. However Rendell said that there would be difficulties convincing voters of the need for such investments.
Kronholz writes, "A problem for big plans like that, he added, is that such basic-needs spending is out of favor with voters. And the reason for that? “The Bridge to Nowhere,” he said, citing a pet project championed by Alaska’s Sen. Ted Stevens and Rep. Don Young that was derailed following an outburst of public anger over the cost. Infrastructure “has become just a pork-barrel process in voters’ eyes,” he said."
Kronholz then wrote, "Alaska’s Gov. Sarah Palin—like Stevens, a Republican—rushed over to Rendell afterwards to remind him that she had vetoed construction of the bridge."
Let's pause and listen to that again: "Alaska's Gov. Sarah Palin rushed over to Rendell afterwards to remind him that she had vetoed construction of the bridge."
According to the Ketchikan Daily News edition on August 8, 2006, this is what Sarah Palin rushed over to tell the voters of Ketchikan during the primary election campaign:
'People across the nation struggle with the idea of building a bridge because they’ve been under these misperceptions about the bridge and the purpose,' said Palin, who described the link as the Ketchikan area’s potential for expansion and growth.
Palin said Alaska’s congressional delegation worked hard to obtain funding for the bridge as part of a package deal and that she 'would not stand in the way of the progress toward that bridge.'”
And according to the Ketchikan Daily News on September 29, 2006 this is what Sarah Palin rushed over to tell the voters of Ketchikan during the general election campaign:
'Part of my agenda is making sure that Southeast is heard. That your projects are important. That we go to bat for Southeast when we’re up against federal influences that aren’t in the best interest of Southeast.'
She cited the widespread negative attention focused on the Gravina Island crossing project. 'We need to come to the defense of Southeast Alaska when proposals are on the table like the bridge and not allow the spinmeisters to turn this project or any other into something that’s so negative,' Palin said.
But yet Palin, rushed over to placate Rendell who just got finished doing exactly what she said she'd defend Alaskans against.
It shouldn't surprise anyone.
Governor Sarah Palin, a CEO who couldn't bother to rush over to meet with head of the Mat Maid Dairy when things went sour, instead choosing to wave signs with angry farmers in front of television cameras.
Governor Sarah Palin, a CEO who couldn't bother to rush over to tell her Commissioner of Public Safety that she was replacing him, instead sending an acting staffer to do her dirty work.
Governor Sarah Palin, a CEO who couldn't bother to rush over to tell Ketchikan community leaders as well as the congressional delegation she planned to veto the funding for the Ketchikan bridge, instead sending out a 5:30am press release so it would hit the east coast news cycle.
But yet she rushed over to tell the Governor of Pennsylvania that she wasn't to blame for the negative publicity surrounding the same bridge she promised to fight for during her campaign.
One governor, two faces. What a bargain.
Lyda Green, Republican member of the Alaska Senate and Alaskan Senate President had an interesting reation to the news of Palin as VP:
"She's not prepared to be governor. How can she be prepared to be vice president or president? Look at what she's done to this state. What would she do to the nation?"
From Politico.com :
State House Speaker John Harris, a Republican from Valdez, was astonished at the news. He didn't want to get into the issue of her qualifications.
"She's old enough," Harris said. "She's a U.S. citizen."
Former House Speaker Gail Phillips, a Republican political leader who has clashed with Palin in the past, was shocked when she heard the news Friday morning with her husband, Walt.
"I said to Walt, 'This can't be happening, because his advance team didn't come to Alaska to check her out," Phillips said.
Phillips has been active in the Ted Stevens re-election steering committee and remains in close touch with Sen. Lisa Murkowski and other party leaders, and she said nobody had heard anything about McCain's people doing research on his prospective running mate.
"We're not a very big state. People I talk to would have heard something."
Few wanted to talk about anything else on talk radio Friday. Conservative host Rick Rydell said there are some benefits to the state, but it's a gamble for McCain to pick an unknown with what he considered "questionable vetting."
"It seems almost like a Hail Mary pass at the end of a football game," Rydell said in an interview after his show Friday.
Rydell said McCain has destroyed his argument about Barack Obama's lack of experience.
Oh ho ho: “According to an analysis of campaign contributions by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, Democrat Barack Obama has received nearly six times as much money from troops deployed overseas at the time of their contributions than has Republican John McCain, and the fiercely anti-war Ron Paul, though he suspended his campaign for the Republican nomination months ago, has received more than four times McCain’s haul.” Wow. Barack Obama hates American troops so much that he takes all of their money! [OpenSecrets via AMERICAblog]
Despite his ad's implication that he supports development of clean, renewable energy sources, McCain's voting record on the issue is clear: he can't even be bothered to show up for votes to support it. His absence speaks volumes.
Read the entire story here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/13/opinion/13friedman.html
