It has been a long road since the country veered off the constitutional course in the election of 2000 by not counting all the votes. Since that time we have seen and been part of what historians might call the most un-American time in our proud republic. When the founding fathers fought for freedom and declared their independence from tyranny there was a battle cry raised from the army of General George Washington. It was "A call to heaven". Their call was answered, their fight was won, and this unlikeliest of places united under the banner of freedom was born. This brave new world for the first time ever, said that all people are created equal and have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  

 

Our United States have grown up a lot since then, but at our core all of us still hold those truths to be self evident. We do come from different backgrounds, with different stories, and different thoughts of what is to protect and grow our fantastic democracy. That's ok though. We can even disagree on very important issues and how to handle them, but what this election showed was that when the American democratic process involves all of us (about 137 million voted) we are a most powerful force. The world was watching with bated breath hoping that we could lift ourselves up and be the beacon of light again.

On one historic Tuesday we showed what democracy is all about. It doesn't matter who you voted for or if your person or proposition lost, what matters is that you participated.

 

You are America; You are why we are free.

 

I know this stuff might sound corny to some of you, but on election night I was working the phones in a get out the vote effort for my candidate PRESIDENT ELECT BARACK OBAMA at a local bar and restaurant in Venice, CA. named Danny's Deli. After we were done a few of us stayed to watch the returns. Venice is a pretty big spot for tourists and after a while some folks started joining us to watch history. I soon realized that a few of these people we not from around here, we had Germans, Canadians, and a girl from Scotland. They all were holding their breath along with us while we were waiting for the results. We heard stories about how so many people in their home countries were watching every move that this campaign made. All of them said how important this was to them, how important America is to them. We Americans are the leaders in the world as my new friend from Canada said.

 

It was still early, a few states for McCain, a few for Obama, nothing concrete yet. Then they called Pennsylvania for Barack, This was a big one, and I told that to my new international election night buddies. The excitement was building and the momentum we starting to go our way, then Ohio. I knew that this could be it but I didn't say, you never know and of course there was still Florida. We were talking about how the world wanted Obama, how my new friends have been disappointed and scared by Bush. They thought, as did %52 of Americans did, that McCain was going to be just like Bush. And then just like that they called it "We can now project that Barack Obama has won and will be the next president of the United States".

 

We were all cheering jumping up and down giving each other big hugs, what a long and hard fight, what a moment, what history. My fellow phone bankers were crying my beautiful wife was so happy she couldn't stop smiling, crying, and clapping for joy. I was still a little stunned. Did this just happen, did we do this, did America just elect the first Professor to be President of the United States? OK I wasn't actually thinking about his professorship, but hopefully in a time not to long in our future, we will only be thinking about who someone is rather then what they look like.    

 

First McCain came out to give his speech, and I turned to my wife and said that John McCain, the old McCain, can really help our country come back together, I hope he does. My Canadian friend disappeared for a minute and then came back with champagne for all of us. He turned to me and said thank you for saving the world. Saving the world, that's what people thought was at stake here. Did I just save the world? No I just made some phone calls to remind Americans that the world was in our hands. I was just playing my part, a small one, in this dramatic American story. You all played one too, that's the point of this post, you and I and all of us played a part, in this new beginning.

 

Then it was time for PRESIDENT ELECT BARACK OBAMA to take the stage. He was pitch perfect as usual. I was floored, but turning around to look at this new mix of people gathering around the TV to watch a profound moment in history, I noticed something, they were crying, all of them. I knew the folks who were working for Obama would be emotional, but there was not a dry eye in the house. From Scotland, to Germany, to Canada, to Venice Beach CA, his presence, his message of hope, and his strength made a believer of me and of all of them as well.

 

His message in victory came with the humility of knowing that what lies ahead is no easy task and that it will take all of us, our fellow Americans, and our friends around the world. I think we are ready for the challenge, I think we have been for a long time now but have been waiting for someone to lead. We now have a leader.So it is again time to gather our strength and like the great founders of this country do the hard work, even when we disagree in order to form a more perfect union.

 

When I got home later that night I was standing outside and looking at the stars, I held my wife real close and she whispered we did it! And just then a brisk wind started blowing, I turned to her and said a line from a Led Zeppelin song, in the light - "well the winds of change will blow around you but you are never alone."  

 

Thank you, my friends, fellow Americans, and citizens around the world. On a transformational Tuesday night in November WE THE PEOPLE SAID YES WE CAN!

 

I'll end with this; just think of the Great Ray Charles singing one of my favorite songs about the great country I'm so very proud to call home.

America, America,

God shed his grace on thee,

And crown thy good, with brother hood,

From sea to shining sea.

There are many differences between Barack Obama and John McCain. They have major differences on how to face the issues of the day, they have different ideologies, and there are big differences in age, temperament, and income bracket - like 7 houses to 1.

 These are big, very big, but what the McCain camp has been trying to do pretty much this whole campaign is to make an issue of the difference in character. Well I do think that there is a huge difference in character...not what the McCain camp would like us to think the difference is though. 

To me this is very simple. When Barack Obama's grandmother who has been sick took a turn for the worse, Obama plans to go to her side. With just two weeks to go before the election, that shows great character.

On the other side John McCain has hired the same people who used sleazy innuendo to paint his wife as a lying, stealing, drug addict, and his daughter as illegitimate, that shows a great lack of character.   

Character is a simple thing for people to understand because it is shown by one's actions and actions always speak louder than words.

 

Speak, Truth, Loud

Campaigns for public office seem to be all about framing your opponent in the most unflattering light. It makes sense because if it was only about; my policy on the free trade agreement is blah blah blah then a lot of Americans wouldn't pay attention. It is a sad but true fact that a little excitement goes a long way in making the evening news. So labels are thrown out, Obama is an elitist, McCain is out of touch. It is the game that is played. So I'll play it too.

John McCain is a legacy -
Just like the current president, McCain is who he is and where he is because of his father and grandfather. McCain never had to work harder then the other students to get ahead, his family had a long line of military men at the top of the military food chain. McCain was just the next link. By definition a legacy gets in because so did his father.

McCain's ascension was no great feat, it was just his time. Don't believe me just ask him, he finished at the bottom of his class was a self described rebel and trouble maker, so what happened to this malcontent, he went to the front of the line as a fighter pilot. There were, I believe over 800 students who finished with higher grades then him but his daddy was in charge and gave him a job.

It is just me or can a lot of you think of someone in your life who you knew didn't have the right stuff but got to the top because they were a legacy. I'm sure you do but let's just look at the giant failure of an example that is the current republican legacy who happens to be President of the United States. George W Bush is more then just the name sake and legacy of George HW Bush; he is the continuation of a continuation of the same person. Prescott Bush the grandfather of W was a senator from Connecticut (see how this works). And as the Who put it, meet the new boss same as the old boss.

Legacy isn't just tied to family it is also tied to political party and philosophy.

The student becomes the teacher, the like minds continue down the same road regardless of where they have just been. John McCain is the next in a long legacy of Republican Party philosophy. The question is has it worked? Well the legacy of Reganomics and deregulation lead to the biggest deficit that America had ever seen by the time he left office. That was eclipsed by the next President, Bush 41, who followed the path of legacy and it lead to an even bigger economic mess because it was the economy, stupid.

Meanwhile John McCain was busy taking the legacy of deregulation to new heights, he voted for the deregulation of savings and loan banks, which were the last time the American taxpayer, had to bailout the banking system for taking advantage of not enough rules.

And McCain went even further with his role as one of the senators in the "Keating 5" scandal. The core allegation of the Keating Five affair is that Keating had made contributions of about $1.3 million to various U.S. Senators, and he called on those Senators to help him resist regulators. The regulators backed off, to later disastrous consequences. McCain was cleared of any impropriety and calls this moment "the greatest mistake I made in my life".

The legacy of deregulation didn't stop there, in the 1990's when the republicans got control of congress there was more deregulation this time with the help of democratic President Bill Clinton. The deregulation of the media allowed for one company to own all the radio, TV, and newspapers in one place, and the "4th branch of government" the free press was never the same. And another deregulation, this time written by Phil Graham (McCain's professed economic guru) allowed for investment banks to do what they have been doing for the last eight years and it lead to the biggest financial crisis since the great depression.

A definition of legacy -  

1. money or property bequeathed to someone in a will;

2. Something inherited from a predecessor; a heritage;

3. The descendant of an alumnus;

4. of a computer system that has been in service for many years and that a business still relies upon, even though it is becoming expensive or difficult to maintain ...  

John McCain is a legacy - he was given his position by who his father was, he adopted his philosophy from the ones before him and like the 4th definition states - he believes in a system that has been in service for many years that has become way too expensive and difficult to maintain.

I think that we need a new direction, the road of deregulation leads to the poor house.

Let Freedom Ring

Surprise! And it’s not even October.

 

Well the one thing you can say about the Republicans is they know how to pull a fast one. They somehow are trying to make this seem like this is a Democrat bail out that the Republicans want nothing to do with, never mind that this debacle is the fault of Republicans and their trickle down tax cut for the rich and corporate buddies’ ways. Oh and by the way the administration who brought you this nightmare is George w. Bush, REPUBLICAN, who along with %90 vote with him John McCain, REPUBLICAN, believes that the free market means do what ever you want whenever you want and if you screw up don’t worry you all have giant golden parachutes and we can get the taxpayer to foot the bill for any losses and if there are any gains they’ll take them and be back in business. This is entirely the REPUBLICANS fault, and now they want to screw up the solution by playing politics.

 

 BAMM! What was that, oh it was another bank failing – goodbye Washington Mutual, hello bread lines. Never mind the tax cut and run Republicans are here, they’ll deregulate and insure the next bank with taxpayer money (with no “up side”) so it can go on and on and on… does anyone know a good learn how to speak Chinese class? Because if the REPUBLICANS keep playing politics and insist on a fix to this problem, that was the cause of the problem, we are looking at the end of America as a financial superpower and your dollars won’t be worth a dime.    

 

A recap of events of the last 2 weeks:

1.       Bush announces that the entire economy is about to collapse, but he has a plan. Just give my guy, the person who watched this get so bad and did nothing until it was “an immanent disaster” $700 billion to fix it, and by the way he will have all the power to do what he wants with the money and there will be no oversight or and upside for the taxpayer, Just help my rich friends who caused this so they can do it again.

2.       The congress gets the Paulson Plan and its usual Bushian depth (2 ½ pages long) and in a bipartisan way says well this won’t fly but we do see that this is a huge crisis that could lead to the next great depression. So they start working on an alternative plan that will protect taxpayers money by giving us an “up side” when these mortgages turn around, some oversight on how the money is used, and some help to the people who are on the hook for bad mortgages. It takes a few days but a bipartisan consensus is reached by the house and Senate committees in charge of this.

3.       John McCain decides after a week and a half of slipping poll numbers because of his lack of understanding of this crisis he needs to do something. As the deal to save the economy (this can’t be understated because if it fails we all fall down) was reached in rides John McCain to “help”. He along with Obama and all the other players meet with the president, and that’s where the politics start. McCain after agreeing in principal with the structure of this emergency bill, he changes his mind (as he does so often) and he and some far right house Republicans back out of the deal.

4.       McCain according to reports says almost nothing during the meeting then towards the end he mentions a counter –proposal that had been offered by the House Republicans, and believe it or not these elected officials want to do MORE OF THE THING THAT GOT US HERE as their plan. They are calling for a cut in capital gains tax (Tax cut for the rich) and offers up us the tax payers as an insurance behind bad debts that these companies have (socialized loss, privatized gain).  If it wasn’t so scary it might actually be funny.

5.       So now the debate goes on and the markets are not working, more banks are failing and if your not already you should be nervous, very nervous

 

No one wants a bail out. I’m a regular guy who has gotten totally screwed by this; I played by the rules and worked hard to save money and want to own my own home, no that  looks like it  won’t happen anytime soon. I don’t want to bail out the companies and people who created this mess, but the truth is this mess is so big that if we do nothing we will all suffer. And the mostly bipartisan plan that has been put forward will have restrictions on how these entities can use this help. They won’t get a free ride but as the REPUBLICAN President said if the money isn’t loosened this sucker could go down.  

 This has been a total failure of the REPUBLICAN TRICKLE DOWN, NO REGULATION, TAX CUTS FOR THE RICH, SYSTEM. And when we are in dire straits because of this McCain and some of his deregulation buddies are pushing for more of the same. It will not work, and by playing politics with this another bank has gone down more people will loose.

 

Jon McCain is playing a great game he has voted with Bush %90 of the time, and that is how we got here, but he wants you to think that he is against Bush and the policies that made this thing happen. It might work, he might get away with this monumental lie, he might make enough voters think that his ideas for how to run the economy are different from Bush but it’s not don’t be fooled by the smoke and mirror show. McCain has the same policies that caused this and he will continue these disastrous policies.

 

October is a time for surprises, but let us all be Americans, rise above and not be fooled by this blatant type of political game. The Republican economic policies are the problem here and they are not the cure.

 

Keep your eyes wide open and nothing will sneak by you.   

 

Let Freedom Ring    

Sarah Palin Is George Bush with lipstick

http://s443.photobucket.com/albums/qq158/Da_Centrist

Well I guess that since we the people are being asked to add a trillion dollars of acquisitions to our balance sheet  SO we should expect some awesome dividend checks rolling in real soon, but  don’t hold your breath.

 

A quick recap of what has gone on here in the simplest terms; we the people have been robbed by the new Barons.

 

The corporate elite, The CEO culture with their golden parachutes want to be all sitting pretty with lots of money and hands freshly cleaned of this mess. I say F that. I propose that we look at the who’s of this debacle and demand their bank accounts by frozen until we can fairly assess how much of these stupid greedy peoples money we can put back in to pay part of this tab. Now I’m not talking about the mid level managers who are now looking for Jobs I’m talking about the upper level guys who walk away with so much and leave us with the bill.

 

 

And another thing why is this SOCIALIZED LOSS not being met with a SOCIALIZED PROFIT? They are telling us we the taxpayer in order to keep the American financial system from putting us all on bread lines have no choice but to bail out these banks but no one is talking about a return on our investment. COME ON, this is simple, if we have to take this on we need a long term contract that will pay us back with interest. It’s business 101 this bail out is a loan and I know for dam sure that if any of these banks loaned us any money they would demand interest and lot’s of it. And let’s not kid ourselves here  we would have to put up our homes. Blood, and probably next of kin, to get a $700 billion loan form the banking industry.

 

I think we the people need to take our FAIR SHARE from here

 

 

I’m a centrist, someone in the middle who likes some of the positions from both sides of the aisle. Tell me the issue I’ll tell you where I stand. From my position in the middle I see in all directions and decide where to go. In this election, as important as it is to all of us I have made my choice and I’m voting for the Democratic ticket of Obama / Biden. I have lots of reasons why I like them and some why I don’t, but this post is about why I can’t vote for John McCain.  

 

When this election started I said to my wife I hope that John McCain wins the Republican nomination because all the other Republicans running had some very fundamental flaws in character. I believed that McCain was the one person who had integrity and wasn’t all about himself or a party line no matter the cost. Then he won the primary and started running this general election campaign that has blown me away, everything I thought I knew about McCain unraveled right before all of our eyes. He has and as of today keeps changing his positions on everything from military policy to economics to how he was going to conduct himself in this campaign. He had spoken about a break from the politics of hate and smear and he wouldn’t engage in that because it was something that the American people don’t want especially when so many important issues and the direction of this country is at stake.

 

At first I believed him, this was going to be a serious debate about issues facing us and I was happy. That lasted for a very short time though. He has engaged in the worst kind of politics with verifiable lies about his and his running mates positions and well as Obama’s. It seems that’s just politics as usual for some politicians in this country, unfortunately for all of us. 2 specific things that McCain did revealed a lot to me about who he really is and what kind of president he’d be.

 

First with all that’s going on in this country and the world he picked a running mate who he barley knew and who the country barley knows. I don’t know enough about her in her 2 weeks in the public eye, but what has come out directly from her makes it obvious to me that at this time she is not ready to be in this position. In a world at the brink a person with ABSOULETLY NO real foreign policy experience (Russia being close to Alaska DOES NOT COUNT) should haven’t even been on his short list for VP let alone his pick. There are a lot of Republicans he could have picked who have the foreign policy and economic policy chops to be president. This was blatant politics, he needed to get the Republican base excited, he wanted to try to pick off some Clinton supporters and his first choices were all Republicans and a Democrat who were pro choice so they didn’t fit the bill. I’m sure that the Gov. of Alaska is a nice person a good public servant and a good mom but just her saying that she is ready doesn’t make her ready, that comes with experience and education in government and on how the world works, at this time she does not have enough of that. It is not a COUNTRY FIRST thing to do to have someone so unversed in politics and the world to be his number 2.

 

The second thing he did that made my decision not to vote for him very easy is his hiring of campaigners who worked for George W. Bush when bush beat McCain in the 2000 primaries. In the 2000 primaries it was neck and neck between Bush and McCain and the thing that put Bush over the top was one of the most discussing campaign “Swift Boating” tactics that I had ever seen. The Bush people started a smear against McCain about how he had an illegitimate black daughter. Their attacks on his family were relentless and completely untrue. The McCain’s had adopted their daughter from Bangladesh, nonetheless the attacks on his family, on his 9 year old daughter kept coming. It was the lowest low ball politics you can have, say what you want about a candidate but leave his children alone! It was disgusting and still leaves a bad taste but it worked, they lied and lied and lied again so loudly that enough people believed it and McCain lost. It was a horrible day for decency but a victory for Bush.

 

Now fast forward to this election and here is where I loose all respect for McCain, He Hired the Same People Who Did This to Him, His Family, And His Little Girl. He hired them for his campaign and they are doing what they do this time for him instead of against him. THERE IS NO HONOR IN THAT. I don’t know about you, but not only would I not pay money to those people but I couldn’t be in the same room with them. I’d want to fight them not pay them. I might even need to be held back if I saw them crossing the street, but I’m the kind of person who wouldn’t let anyone do that to my family. It is clear that John McCain who had honor as a young man no longer does, he won’t even stand up for his own family why would we believe that he would stand  up for us.

 

 

The only way America continues to be the beacon of hope, truth, and justice in the world is if the people in charge are truthful, have hope, and believe in the American system of justice working for ALL AMERICANS

 

The Choice is yours I’ve made mine

 

God Bless America

 

Let Freedom Ring

 

    I as my name says am a centrist, and have been staying out of the democratic primary discussion to let this play out.
Well it has played out and Hillary lost.
The truth is that her last shot was to win REAL BIG in Pennsylvania and she only won by %10. She needed to be at %17 to %20 to have a chance to win the pledged delegates.
And don't believe the miss information out there, in the land of the free and the home of justice and fairness it is  the person with the MOST pledged delegates who wins.
That person is Senator Barack Obama. I believe in facts and the facts of the math say that Obama has won. Of course people who want to can try to change, manipulate, and outright lie about how the game is played but in the end the rules are the rules and under the rules Obama has won.
I admire the tenacity of Clinton, she is a fighter and I hope she will continue to fight for the American people as the Senator from New York. But this time, in this race, the writing is on the wall and it says Presidential Candidate for the democratic party is Illinois Senator Barack Obama.
Now turn to November and beyond because it is our duty as Americans to restore our good standing in the world and regain the high ground as the beacon of hope for all.