Make a difference and VOTE

"Bad politicians are sent to Washington by good people who don't vote"
-William Simon

I am one of those firm believers that everyone should vote. I believe its your civic duty. To the people who say that their vote does not matter, I can relate I am a Democrat in arguably the reddest state in America, Utah. I wonder if all the people who use this excuse not to vote, actually voted, what kind of change we could see. Your vote does matter, it gives you a voice. I think our forefathers, civil rights leaders, and woman's suffrage leaders would be truly disgusted with our current voter turnout. People need to know their history in order to respect it. People in history have struggled, been persecuted, and killed for every Americans right to vote. Yet, we have been a country of apathy. We cannot take for granted the rights that people before have fought and died for. No matter what your political affiliation, you must vote! Make your voice heard and be a part of history on NOV. 4. If you cant make it on the 4th, vote early, no more excuses! Find your polling place and VOTE!

http://www.vote411.org/pollingplacebystate.php

Terrorism, Socialism, and Islam

Obama is inches away from the finish line in the Presidential election. The last couple of months of John Mccain's campaign has been one of desperation. However, the last two weeks his campaign has been down right despicable. His campaign feels the only chance they have in this election is to play on the seed of fear and hate that resides in many people. First, they linked him to 1960's domestic terrorist William Ayers. Dropping lines like "Obama is Pallin' around with terrorists", to raise doubt about Obama's character. When Sarah Palin is up there stumping innuendos about Obama's faith and relationships, are they really surprised as to what kind of response they get? With these words of intolerance they have incited a mob that is flirting with a thin line that could lead to violence. They have fueled misconceptions about Obama's faith, his patriotism, even his citizenship. It is appalling the kinds of things being said by Mccain supporters at his rallies. When polling showed that the majority of people do not like the Ayers references because they are too worried about the economic crisis the Mccain camp moves on to just as detrimental rhetoric. Their newest tactic in provoking fear is calling Obama a Socialist. A Socialist? Really? I think someone may need to let John Mccain know this is not the 1950's, McCarthyism is dead. We don't do the Communist witch hunts in America anymore, well at least I thought we didn't. John Mccain had a choice and his choice was whether to end this campaign with at least a smidgen of integrity in tact. He has chosen politics above all else. He is going to end this campaign with lies and insinuations of things that are truly disturbing to suggest about a United States Senator. In history we are going to look back at the final days of this campaign and see not a Mccain who was graceful in the final days but rather a Mccain that ran one of the dirtiest and disgraceful campaign in history.

Sarah Palin the role model?

Tonight in the debate Mccain called Sarah Palin a role model for women. Well speak for yourself John Mccain because she is no role model of mine. Merely picking Sarah Palin was a slap in women's faces. Not only was it merely political pandering but its an insult to our intelligence to suggest we would vote for someone who is so unqualified just because she is a women. John Mccain put politics before country by picking her. I do not know one person who with a straight face would suggest Sarah Palin is qualified to take on two wars and a financial crises. NONE. ZIP. Not only does she not have the experience to take on these issues but she does not have the intellect, which she proved on those two TV interviews. She is not a role model of mine when she allows herself to be used as a political prop which is to be seen but not heard. She is no role model of mine when she uses scapegoats such as the media using "gotcha" journalism to mix her up instead of being a strong women who takes responsibility for her own mistakes. She is no role model of mine when she thinks that someone should be forced to keep a pregnancy even if it resulted from incest and rape. Sarah Palin is no role model of mine when she supports abstinence only sexual education. She is certainly no role model of mine if she thinks that emergency contraception should be considered abortion. She is no role model of mine when she joins a ticket who does not support equal pay for women and says unequal pay is not the result of sexism but lack of education and training on the women's part. Just because she is a women does not make her a role model or a champion for women's rights. I am a feminist and am a big advocate for women and women's rights and John Mccain, do not patronize me with this absolute garbage of Sarah Palin being a "role model".

Tax Cuts

See for yourself the savings you would recieve under Obama's tax plan versus Mccain's.

Go to this website and use the tax calculator.
http://taxcut.barackobama.com/

Have fun! I will recieve $1000 under Obama's plan and a big fat zero under Mccain's, why am I not suprised?

Angry

I have news for Senator Mccain, no one cares about William Ayers. In a previous post I would not defend Obama from this attack because I knew there was no need. These desperate attacks had the exact affect I thought they would, the American people could care less about petty attacks in these terrible economic times. Yet, Mccain decides to further these attacks in the debate completely demolishing any lead he may have had at the beginning. Mccain started off strong in the debate, delivering his best line, "I am not President Bush". However, by taking the low road Mccain's lead fell apart. Even though many recent polls have shown Americans care very little about Ayers and have a less favorable rating for Mccain for even bringing up, Mccain brought it up many times during the debate. During this he seemed very angry, like he could barely contain himself and throughout the debate his facial expressions and sighing showed nothing but contempt. This is exactly what Mccain should have tried to refrain from. The Obama camp for weeks have been painting Mccain as this angry, grumpy, erratic old man and Mccain did nothing but fuel that fire tonight. CNN showed a split screen between the candidates a fairly large amount of the time, and Mccain did not look Presidential. Throughout all these debates, as I have said before, Obama has always remained calm and collected. Obama looked like a leader, who is ready to take on the many challenges that the next administration will inherit. Mccain is known for his temper, and has shown evidence of it in every debate. A temper and being unable to contain it is not a quality that a President should have.

While Mccain talked about petty things such as Ayers and Acorn, Obama once again related how he is going to help the middle class. I think Obama made three great points in the debate. The first was on Taxes. Mccain keeps saying Obama is going to raise taxes, which is simply not the case. Obama will lower taxes for 95% of Americans and also provide tax relief for small businesses. Mccain kept saying that Obama wants to redistribute wealth and is involved in class warfare. This is absolutely absurd and infuriates me! How is giving tax BREAKS to the top wealthiest people and businesses not class warfare? How is giving tax breaks to people who don't need them or who never asked for them in the first place and doing nothing for the ones who actually need them, not class warfare? All Obama wants to do is get rid of the Bush tax breaks for the wealthy (which Mccain supports) and give them to the people who need them the most, the middle class. Lets not be fooled by Mccains claims of redistribution of wealth, lets see it for what it really is, which is putting the money into the hands of the people who are the backbone of America instead of the wealthiest 1%. The second great point was about health care, I have blogged previously about this, so I wont go into much detail. But what I will say is this, Obama's health care plan is far superior to Mccain' plan and one must just investigate to see this fact. The third great point was on education. Mccain lacks any significant plan to help our education system. Obama wants to broaden and fund early education. This is the only way to ensure that all student regardless of income will start Kindergarten on the same level. On higher education there is simply no competition in plans because Mccain doesn't have one. He gave out some vague ideas of expanding availability of loans. Obama understands the importance of making college affordable. He proposes a $4000 dollar tax credit per student per year for college tuition, All that is required is community service. This is a win win situation. This credit would not only make college affordable but almost free for many students. I know many people would not hesitate to help out in their community for free let alone for the chance of nearly free college tuition.

What is clear from all these proposals is that the middle class will finally have a fighter for them in the white house. There will be no more corporate welfare and tax break handouts to the exceptionally wealthy. There will be real solutions for the real problems that most middle class Americans are facing.

A basic human Right 2

In my previous blog, I talked about Obama's health care policy. In this blog I am going to examine John Mccain's proposal and show how it will single handily ruin the health care system worse than it all ready is. Mccain wants to provide individuals with a $2500 tax credit and $5000 per family, to be able to go and purchase the plan of your choice. Also what he wants to do is deregulate heath care. Hmmm sounds reminiscent of something? He wants individuals to be able to go across state borders, in search of the cheapest plan. Deregulation of market would allow companies to deny people with preexisting conditions. He is also proposing for the first time, to tax health care, which currently companies recieve a tax break for insuring employees. This would cause many companies to drop insurance, which according to non partisan studies (NY times) would leave 20 million people without health insurance. So if you count the 40 million or so of the currently uninsured and now add that 20 million, thats 60 million uninsured Americans. What John Mccain doesnt tell you when promoting his $5000 tax credit is that the average yearly health insurance cost is $12000. Under a Mccain health care plan, the sick would not be able to obtain coverage nor the poor. In a recent NY Times article they cited a quote from Mccain about deregulation of the Health Care market. “Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation.” This says it all. We have seen what deregulation of the banking market has led us to- a financial crisis. Are we going to elect John Mccain and look back 10 years from now, when we are dealing with a health care crisis and regret not looking further into his plan? Americans need to look carefully at the policies both candidates propose and in doing so will be able to avoid making the same mistakes in health care as we did in the financial sector.

Health care is a issue that is personal to me, I know many people who have struggled and left in dire situations because of the current health care situation. As I have said before, it is something I am very passionate about. We all know someone who has been negatively affected by health care and that makes it a personal to us all. We need to demand change and not settle for anything less. It is okay to stand up and let your voice be heard about how corrupt and immoral the current system is. We need people to get involved and demand action from our elected officials, because they need to answer to their constituents not to insurance company lobbyists. Health care is not a responsibility as John Mccain said it was in the last debate but a basic human right!

Also, for further reading about how John Mccains plan will affect businesses, this is an intresting article. http://liberalvaluesblog.com/?p=5009

A basic human right

I am very passionate about health care. I believe health care should be a basic human right. Our current system is completely immoral. Denying people coverage in order to make money is completely wrong. The system is completely backwards it works for the people who don't need it and are healthy and not for the people who need it the most. People want to talk about capitalism and when talking about this issue people like to spout words like "socialism" and "communism", they say a government run system would be these things. But when human lives are at stake, money is not what should be the priority. The system makes money by denying people, and preventing the sick (preexisting conditions) from obtaining health care because they would be a financial liability. This is criminal and immoral! There is something fundamentally wrong with this concept of capitalism over human lives. If I had my way I would want complete socialized health care in a way that would be uniquely American. By taking the good things from systems in countries such as; Europe, France, Switzerland, and Canada. I know these systems are not perfect, but frankly they are better than our system. We need to take the things that work for these countries and compile them to create a system that works for America. Now I realize that this most likely will never happen because people have misconceptions about other health care systems and they believe they belong in Communist countries. So, I am willing to support a compromise because we have to start somewhere because are current system is a complete failure. The number one reason people claim bankruptcy is health care bills and many of them have health insurance, so you can imagine the ones that don't. A compromise would consist of making health care affordable. Which would require law makers to stand up to the corrupt insurance company lobbyists, who spend millions of dollars to buy the support of law makers. The second compromise would have to be a way for all Americans to be insured, and that would mean the government stepping in for those who can not afford it. The third compromise would have to make it illegal for companies to deny people because of preexisting conditions. We cannot allow the ones who need health care the most to be turned away!

Which candidate supports these measures as well as believing health care is a right? Barack Obama. Obama is going to lower insurance costs and save the typical American family $2500. This is how he is going to do this

• Require insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions so all Americans regardless of their health status or history can get comprehensive benefits at fair and stable premiums.
• Require hospitals to collect and report health care cost and quality data
• Reduce the costs of catastrophic illnesses for employers and their employees
• Reform the insurance market to increase competition by taking on anticompetitive activity that drives up prices without improving quality of care

Mccain attacks Obama by claiming his health care plan is going to have a negative affect on small business, this is not true. Here is what Obama is going to do to help businesses and insure that it helps the American people, not insurance companies and pharmeceutical companies.

• Require insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions so all Americans regardless of their health status or history can get comprehensive benefits at fair and stable premiums.
• Create a new Small Business Health Tax Credit to help small businesses provide affordable health insurance to their employees.
• Lower costs for businesses by covering a portion of the catastrophic health costs they pay in return for lower premiums for employees.
• Prevent insurers from overcharging doctors for their malpractice insurance and invest in proven strategies to reduce preventable medical errors.
• Make employer contributions more fair by requiring large employers that do not offer coverage or make a meaningful contribution to the cost of quality health coverage for their employees to contribute a percentage of payroll toward the costs of their employees health care.
• Establish a National Health Insurance Exchange with a range of private insurance options as well as a new public plan based on benefits available to members of Congress that will allow individuals and small businesses to buy affordable health coverage.
• Ensure everyone who needs it will receive a tax credit for their premium

Obama's healthcare plan is giant step in the right direction, which is making health care a basic human right

Hate Mongers

Since the Mccain campaign rhetoric has recently revolved around trying to make Obama look risky and unpatriotic by associating him with domestic terrorists, the fear mongering has turned into hate mongering. Recently while Palin has been out giving stump speech linking Obama to terrorists, people in the crowd have taken to yelling disgusting and hateful things, such as "terrorist" and "treason" and most alarmingly "kill him", as well as racial epithets. These things being said at a Republican nominee rally is unacceptable. Period. Does Palin call any of these people out and say she disapproves and that's taking it to far? Of course not, and I am not surprised. This is the reaction they want, they want to link Obama to people like Ayers and then let people make their own false assumptions. However, these things should not be tolerated by a Presidential or VP candidate. If the same was being said at an Obama rally calling Palin a "bitch", I have all the faith in the world Obama would not tolerate it. In fact, he did something similar at a rally during the primaries when people were booing and saying things about Hillary Clinton, he said there was no need for that and she deserved respect. Obama deserves the same respect, and the American people are better than this. John Mccain and Sarah Palin need to publicly condemn these kind of words or they are condoning this kind of discourse. By the Mccain camp spewing their fear mongering, they have woken the beast of hate which resides in some of the American people and then need to speak out against it.

Who is going to win the election? That one

The second presidential debate did not offer anything we all haven't heard before. They both went over their plans for health care, the economy, and the wars. So what are people going to take away from this debate? Who looked and acted presidential. It was clear throughout the debate that there is animosity between the two candidates, but this was more apparent on the part of John Mccain. In the first debate, John Mccain showed his discontent for Obama by refusing to look at him and sneering at things he said. In this second debate he showed his dislike by being patronizing and by, a moment I think will be remembered in history, calling him "that one". It can be debated what he meant by that, whether it was racially charged or not, but it was definetely patronizing and condescending. After the last week which has been been all about dirty campaigning and then barely being able to hold back his scathing dislike for Obama, John Mccain look all but presidential. On the other hand, Obama sat through Mccain's blatant lies and attacks at the debate with a calm disposition and a smile. The Mccain camp wants to paint Obama as risky and dangerous, who is "palling around with terrorists". Watching Obama and how he carries himself, it is easy to see that the caricature that the Mccain camp wants to project is completely false. In fact, it was Mccain who came out looking risky and dangerous. He is unable to control his temper and keep a calm and collective demeanor, which is very important for a president to have.

Dissent protects democracy

The controversy with Rev. wright brought up an interesting discourse about patriotism. There are two sets of people in America; the first group believes any utterance of criticism of the US is completely unpatriotic and the second believes that dissent protects democracy. I have met many people who believe that America is perfect and that we should never say anything negative about it. We all have heard when people who publicly express discontent are often told things such as "if you don't love America then leave the country". The people who hold this belief, I believe just don't know their history. Well here is a news flash-America is not perfect. Gasp! Should I leave the country because I am an unpatriotic communist? It was the work of people who were critical and willing to protest that were responsible for bringing about change in the many things that America has gotten wrong. For example, women would not have the right to vote, we would still have slavery and segregation. People who are critical of America are not so because they are unpatriotic, it is because they love America and want it to be the best it can possibly be. America was founded on the same principles that protesters believe in. America was founded because of unjust treatment from the British. The type of government we have is based on dissent. If you are not happy with elected officials or how they are running things, it is not patriotic to support them no matter what. It is actually your civic duty to vote for someone new, the very act of voting is to show your criticism or your approval. The Second amendment, the right to bear arms was created so that the people could have a militia in the event that there was corrupt government, the people could overtake it. Protesting an unjust war is not unpatriotic, it is the exact opposite. It is your right and duty to voice when you believe that America is participating in something unjust or wrong. These principles is what this country was founded upon.

Mccain camp going negative? You betcha

In yet another desperate attempt to gain some much needed ground, Mccain has revived the Rev. Wright and William Ayers controversy. I always knew Mccain was waiting for the opportune moment to try and re instill fear into the hearts and minds of Americans. There is not better time, Obama is substantially ahead in the polls and from here on out it will be harder to change peoples minds. This is a smart strategy for the Mccain camp, because that is there only chance, to make Obama look risky. However, in our current financial situation it could seriously back fire. Mccain/Palin are always spouting how they don't like "politics as usual", but that is exactly what they are doing. They know they cannot win on the issues and therefore they are playing the politics of distraction. They know they can't win on the economy, so they are going to distract us with Rev Wright. They know they can't win on healthcare, so they are going to distract us with William Ayers. They know they can't win on Iraq, so they are going to paint Obama as unpatriotic. I am not even going to engage in these tired arguments by defending Obama. There is no need because unlike what the Mccain camp is saying this campaign is about the Issues and not about personality. The state of our country domestically and internationally is too important to let these smear tactics work. So Sarah Palin can try and use fear tactics and personal attacks to win over the American people, but I don't think they are going to buy it.

Say it aint so, Joe

In the Vice Presidential debate Sarah Palin lived to see a another day. She was beginning to be an embarrassment to the Mccain camp in the recent weeks, but regained her confidence at the debate. She accomplished reassuring the Republican base that she can articulate sound arguments. She ramped up her folksy charm and delivered one liners like, "say it ain't so, Joe" which is sure to reclaim the hearts of the people who liked her for her relatability. The bar was set so low for how she would perform, she easily surpassed expectations. However, as the Vice Presidential candidate she failed to do what her job is as the "attack dog" of the campaign. What her arguments should have focused on is making Obama look like a risky choice. She failed to do that and therefore did not help the Mccain ticket with any undecided voters. What she achieved was damage control, she fixed the mess she had made. She did not help the ticket but merely reassured voters who would vote for Mccain, despite a horrendous VP choice. She was charming and witty at times but lacked focus and deep understanding of the issues. Most of the time she didn't answer the question that was given. She would bounce back and forth between being folksy and feisty and looking into the camera and reciting her talking points. Now, this is a huge improvement, she was able to string sentences together in mostly coherent arguments unlike her previous interviews. However, she failed to lay out clear plans for Iraq, heath care, and what her ticket would do to help the middle class. Joe Biden repeatedly pointed out that Mccain's plans give tax breaks to the wealthy and to the big corporations and Palin had little to say because she knows full well their policies are the same as George Bush. I really liked Biden's one liner in reference to Mccain's health care plan by saying, "it's the ultimate bridge to nowhere".

Palin kept saying to Biden that his campaign was all about looking in the past, instead of looking to the future. The problem with that is that Mccain/Palin policies want to bring the same policies of last 8 years and try and bring it into our future. We cannot allow this! John Mccain's policy's are the exact same as Bush's, the only difference is the package it comes in. If you put lipstick on a pig it is still a pig. There is a famous saying, "those who don't look to the past are doomed to repeat it" and this is exactly what we need to do with Mccain/Palin. Of course, she doesn't want us to look to the past because what will see there is more of the same. We need to look at the last 8 years and recognize that the failed policies of the Bush administration should not be able to continue for the next 4 years! There is no difference between them, Mccain and Palin are more of the same.